From: buliabyak Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 20:04:52 +0000 (+0000) Subject: first commit of 0.44 relnotes X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=c1c5f642054671fbe4466beff27ae12087d7b0a0;p=inkscape.git first commit of 0.44 relnotes --- diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 5c4070c5b..88062d39b 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -1,439 +1,1420 @@ Release Notes - Inkscape 0.43 - -In brief - - The focus of this release is on the exciting new features sponsored by - Google via their Summer of Code program. However, we have quite a bunch of - other stuff too. Here are the highlights: - - * Connectors: A new Connector tool implements creation, editing, and - autorouting (object-avoiding) of connector lines between objects. - Indispensable for diagramming. (A Google SoC project.) - * Inkboard collaborative editing: You can now connect to other Inkscape - users over the Net and edit a shared document together, watching - others' changes and making yours! (A Google SoC project.) - * Pressure and tilt sensitivity: the Calligraphy tool can now use a - tablet pen with pressure/tilt support to vary the width and angle of - the calligraphic stroke. - * Better node editing: You can freely drag/bend/stretch a Bezier curve - by any point (not only by a node), as well as add a new node at any - point on the curve. - * New extensions for envelope distortion, whirling, and adding nodes. - * Improved precision, expanded limits, many usability improvements and - bugfixes. - - Tavmjong Bah has updated his online book, A Guide to Inkscape - (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php), to cover - the Inkscape 0.43 features. This guide is not included with the Inkscape - release. Users are encouraged to read the guide in addition to these - release notes and the help included with Inkscape. - -Connectors - - * Inkscape now includes preliminary support for connectors. Connectors - are lines drawn between objects, that stay connected to the objects as - these objects are manipulated. Any object may have a "connector-avoid" - property, which, when set, causes connectors to automatically route - around the object. - - * The Connector tool (Ctrl+F2 or the o key) is a new way of creating and - rerouting connectors, as well as marking objects "avoided" for the - purpose of routing connectors. - - * A new connector can be drawn by clicking and dragging from any - point on the canvas. The connector is finalized when the mouse is - released. Connectors can also be created with two clicks, rather - than click-and-drag, if this is preferred. In this case, click once - on an empty point on the canvas to begin drawing the connector, - then move the mouse to the new connector's target point and then - click again to finalize the connector. Single clicking on a canvas - object selects/deselects that object, just as in other tools. - - * Connection point handles are shown while the mouse cursor is - hovering over a non-connector object in the connector tool. - Currently they are shown only at the center of objects. When - creating a connector, if the connector is started or ended over a - connection point then the connector will be attached to that - object. From then on the connector will be automatically rerouted - whenever the attached object is moved. - - * Connectors attached to objects are currently drawn to the bounding - box of those objects. It is planned that they will be drawn instead - to the edges of objects. - - * A selected connector will show two endpoint handles. By clicking - and dragging these, the connector can be rerouted and - attached/detached from objects. - - * The Make connectors avoid selected objects button marks all objects - in the selection as "avoided", causing all current and future - connectors to automatically avoid these objects. - - * The Make connectors ignore selected objects button marks all - objects in the selection as "ignored", causing all current and - future connectors to completely ignore these objects. This is the - default for all canvas items, i.e., no objects are automatically - routed around by default. - -Inkboard - - A first release of the Inkboard collaborative editing system (also known - as a "white board") is present in this version of Inkscape. - - * Inkboard must be enabled at compile time by passing --enable-inkboard - to the configure script: Inkboard has known bugs, and may present - security issues. - - * Inkboard uses the XMPP (http://www.xmpp.org/) protocol (used by Jabber - (http://www.jabber.org/)) to link together Inkscape clients in a - shared document session. Therefore, if you have a Jabber account, you - can use Inkboard. (There are some exceptions, which are listed below - in the "Known issues" section.) Inkboard uses the Loudmouth - (http://loudmouth.imendio.org/) library for Jabber connectivity; - versions 0.17.2 and above of the Loudmouth library are known to work. - - * Inkboard sessions may occur between two users or a group of users in a - chatroom setting. - - Inkboard usage - - * You must first connect to a Jabber server before sharing a document. - To do this, go to Whiteboard -> Connect to Jabber server. You will be - prompted to enter a server name, your username, and password. You may - specify a specific port to connect on, and whether or not you would - like to connect via SSL. - - * After connecting, you may establish a session with another user or a - chatroom. To connect to another user, go to Whiteboard -> Share with - user. Inkboard can import your Jabber contact list, and will present a - list of online contacts to you. You may select any contact in the - contact list, or enter a Jabber ID to connect to. - - * Similarly, you can establish a connection with a chatroom by going to - Whiteboard -> Share with chatroom. - - * If you are contacted by another user, Inkscape will present a dialog - telling you that you have received an invitation. The dialog contains - the Jabber ID of the user contacting you, and offers you three - choices: decline the invitation, accept the invitation, or accept the - invitation in a new window. - - * Inkboard can record a session's contents for playback at a later time. - - * If you are establishing a session, click the Write session file - checkbox in the share with user dialog to enable session - recording. You will need to provide the name of a file to which - the session contents can be written. - * If you are accepting a session invitation, click the Write - session file checkbox in the invitation dialog to enable session - recording. You will need to provide the name of a file to which - the session contents can be written. - * To play back a session, go to Whiteboard -> Open session file. - - * The Whiteboard -> Dump XML tracker menu item is intended for debugging - purposes only. - -Pressure and tilt sensitivity - - Support for extended input devices has been added. - - * The Calligraphy tool now has optional pressure and tilt support from - an input device such as a tablet. Pressure can be used to alter the - width of the pen and tilt can be used to alter the angle of the pen's - nib. - - * A standard input device dialog has been added (in File menu). Input - device settings are saved to and loaded from the preferences. + + From Inkscape Wiki + + Contents + + * 1 Inkscape 0.44: overview + * 2 Performance + + * 2.1 Outline mode + * 2.2 Speed + + * 3 SVG conformance + + * 3.1 Color profile support + * 3.2 support + * 3.3 SVG output + + * 4 Interface + + * 4.1 Layers dialog + * 4.2 Selected style indicator + * 4.3 Tool style indicators + * 4.4 Controls bar for the Text tool + * 4.5 Docked color palette + * 4.6 Inkscape Preferences dialog + * 4.7 Document Properties / Metadata dialogs + * 4.8 Configurable keyboard + * 4.9 Menus + * 4.10 Statusbar + * 4.11 Theme + + * 5 Tools + + * 5.1 Node tool + + * 5.1.1 Node sculpting + * 5.1.2 "Show handles" toggle + * 5.1.3 New deletion behavior + * 5.1.4 Preserving positions of nodes and handles + * 5.1.5 Miscellaneous + + * 5.2 Calligraphic pen + + * 5.2.1 Tremor + * 5.2.2 Pen width + * 5.2.3 Selection + * 5.2.4 Style + + * 5.3 Pen tool + + * 6 Clipping and masking + * 7 Transformations + + * 7.1 Transform dialog + * 7.2 Persistent rotation centers + * 7.3 Pasting size + + * 8 Connectors and automatic layout + * 9 Selective tracing with SIOX + * 10 Snapping + * 11 Sublayers + * 12 Markers + * 13 Extensions + * 14 Formats + * 15 Miscellaneous shortcuts + * 16 Miscellaneous improvements + * 17 Miscellaneous bugfixes + * 18 Translations + * 19 Internal + * 20 Known problems + + * 20.1 Problems with libgc-6.7 + * 20.2 Namespaces may need fixing + * 20.3 Beware of defective themes on Linux + * 20.4 Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it + + * 21 Previous releases + + +Inkscape 0.44: overview + + Inkscape 0.44 is bigger and better than ever. Some highlights: + + * Layers dialog + + * Outline mode, many performance improvements + + * Native PDF export with transparency + + * Clipping and masking support + + * Configurable keyboard shortcuts, including Xara X emulation + + * Docked color palette in the editing window + + * Interactive indicator of the style of selection in the statusbar + + * Innovative "node sculpting" and other improvements in Node tool + + * Extensions are enabled by default and work on all major platforms + + * Better SVG support: element, ICC color profiles for images + + * Persistent rotation centers, Paste Size command + + * New icons, redesigned preferences dialogs, rearranged menus, many + cosmetic improvements + + * Hundreds of bugfixes and smaller features + + * Not directly related to Inkscape, but important nevertheless: since + our last release, Firefox 1.5 was released with SVG support enabled by + default. This means that you can now view any Inkscape document right + in your Firefox window without any format conversions or installing + any plugins! + + + Performance + + +Outline mode + + An Outline ("wireframe") display mode is implemented. Use the View > + Display Mode > Outline to activate it. In this mode: + + * all paths and shapes are rendered as inverse (black on light + background and vice versa) outlines of constant width (1 screen pixel + regardless of zoom), without fill; + + * text is painted by inverse fill, without stroke; + + * bitmaps are shown as is; + + * any opacity and gradients are ignored. + + The outline mode is usually not drastically faster than regular mode + (usually 10% to 50% faster), and in some special cases it may even be + slower. However, the value of the outline mode is not only in its speed; + it is a good way to get an idea of the structure and objects of your + document, and it is convenient for precision node editing and for finding + "stray objects". + + +Speed + + In addition to the Outline mode which makes it much easier to work with + complex drawings, this version of Inkscape also provides significant speed + improvements in many areas. + + * Thanks to optimizations in the renderer, Inkscape's screen redraw is + faster by at least 10%, and in some cases (such as complex + stroked/dashed paths at high zooms) up to three times faster. + + * Optimizations in the Node tool resulted in noticeable speed gains for + node editing. Thus, switching to and from the Node tool (with a path + selected), as well as selecting nodes in that tool, are now at least + ten times faster than before. Other operations, including curve and + node dragging and move/scale/rotate operations on multiple selected + nodes, are much faster as well. This is especially important when + working with complex paths; with these optimizations, paths containing + several thousand nodes, though still slow, are much more usable. + + * An optimization in the attribute setting method made operations such + as moving multiple objects with arrow keys at least 30% faster + compared to 0.43. This is especially noticeable when you are moving + clones selected together with their original (e.g. a clone tiling), in + which case Inkscape now works three to four times faster. + + * Interface icons are now rendered in the background (from SVG source in + share/icons/icons.svg) when Inkscape is idle, rather than waiting for + all the icons in a menu to render the first time you pull it up. This + eliminates the annoying delay when opening menus for the first time. + + * Previously, zooming in to view a small portion of a path (especially + big and complex path), there was a very noticeable slowdown and memory + use increased dramatically. We optimized the renderer to only process + the visible part of a path, and as a result the rendering speed is now + almost the same at any zoom up to the maximum, providing up to 10-40 + times speedup compared to the previous version (the closer is the + zoom, the greater is the gain). + + * The Path > Break Apart command is now dozens of times (up to 100x) + faster for complex paths with thousands of subpaths. + + + SVG conformance + + +Color profile support + + Inkscape now includes base ICC profile functionality. If compiled with + LittleCMS support (if you run configure with --enable-lcms switch), + Inkscape passes the ICC color profile test by W3C. The + element has been implemented along with the "color-profile" attribute for + elements. + + + support + + Rendering support for SVG 1.1's Conditional Processing Module has been + implemented, including switch element, requiredFeatures, + requiredExtensions, systemLanguage attributes. Inkscape passes the + Conditional processing tests ([1] and [2]) by W3C. + + +SVG output + + * In Inkscape's SVG documents, colors are now expressed by name + (`white') or three-digit form (`#f3c') when possible. + + * The numeric values in transform attributes are written without + insignificant trailing zeros, and anything less than that 1e-8 by + absolute value (usually caused by rounding errors) is written as 0 to + reduce clutter. + + + Interface + + +Layers dialog + + A Layers dialog (Ctrl+Shift+L) is implemented in this version. It works in + parallel with the quick layer selector in the statusbar, so you can use + whichever is more convenient for you. + + * In the dialog, you can click on a layer to make it current, as well as + toggle layers visible/hidden and locked/unlocked. You don't need to + make a layer current to toggle it visibility or lock status. + + * A hierarchical tree of layers is represented by a tree-like display in + the dialog. You can expand or collapse branches of the tree to make + the layer structure of a document easier to navigate. + + * At the bottom of the dialog, there are buttons for adding a new layer, + moving the current layer up or down (either one step or all the way to + top or bottom), and deleting the current layer. + + * Below the buttons, there's a slider and a spinbutton for adjusting the + opacity of the current layer. A layer's opacity affects all objects in + that layer in the same way as opacity of a group. + + +Selected style indicator + + A new control in the left end of the statusbar lets you quickly view and + change the fill and stroke of the selected objects. When you have a text + selection in Text tool or a gradient handle selected in the Gradient tool, + this indicator displays and changes the style of the text fragment or + gradient stop, instead of the entire object (it's the same behavior as the + Fill&Stroke dialog.) + + * The two indicators, labelled F: (top) and S: (bottom), display fill + and stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. (For gradient + handles, they always display the same style.) + + * Each fill/stroke indicator can display either a color+opacity swatch + (the opacity shown here is the fill opacity or stroke opacity, not the + master opacity) or a text label specifying N/A (nothing selected), + None (no fill/stroke), Unset (unset fill/stroke), L Gradient, R + Gradient, Pattern (corresponding fill/stroke types), or Different + (selected objects have different fill/stroke types). + + * Additionally, each indicator may be accompanied by one of two flags, m + ("multiple", meaning there are two or more objects all with the same + fill/stroke) or a ("averaged", meaning there are two or more objects + with different flat colors in fill/stroke, and the indicator shows the + average of these colors). + + * Left-click on an indicator opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog + with the corresponding tab (Fill or Stroke) active. + + * Right-click on an indicator opens a popup menu with the following + items: + + * Edit fill/stroke...: Opens or activates the Fill&Stroke dialog + with the corresponding tab selected. (Same as left-click.) + * Last set color: Applies to the selected objects the fill/stroke + color that was last applied to anything. + * Last selected color: Applies to the selected objects the + fill/stroke color that was last displayed in this indicator. + (Allows you to easily copy fill/stroke color between objects: + select source, select destination, apply "last selected color".) + * Invert: Sets the fill or stroke to the inverse of the current + color (does not affect opacity). + * White, Black: Sets the fill or stroke to the corresponding color + (fully opaque). + * Copy color, Paste color: Copies or pastes the fill or stroke + color (when it's color) to/from the system clipboard, as text in + the #rrggbb hex format. + * Swap fill and stroke: Exchanges fill and stroke (both their types + and colors, if any). + * Make fill/stroke opaque: Removes fill or stroke transparency (not + master transparency!). + * Unset fill/stroke: Unsets fill or stroke from selected objects. + * Remove fill/stroke: Removes fill or stroke from the selected + objects. + + * Middle-click on a fill/stroke indicator removes fill/stroke from + selected objects; if it is already removed (i.e. if the indicator + displays "None"), it does the same as the "Last set color" command + from the popup menu. + + * Drag and Drop of colors onto a fill/stroke indicator sets the fill and + stroke of the selected object(s) correspondingly. + + * The Stroke indicator also displays the stroke width of selection + (averaged if there are multiple objects selected with different stroke + widths), located to the right of the stroke color/transparency swatch. + Left-clicking on it opens the Fill&Stroke dialog with the Stroke Style + tab selected. Right-clicking on it opens a popup menu which allows you + to choose the units for displaying the stroke width, as well as choose + one of the presets to assign to selection. + + * To the right of the fill/stroke indicators, the Opacity numeric field + (labelled "O:") shows and allows you to change the master opacity of + the selected object (or the averaged opacity of several selected + objects). Right-clicking the numeric field opens a popup menu with + preset opacity levels. Middle-clicking on the "O:" label cycles the + opacity through the values of 0 (transparent), 0.5, and 1 (opaque). + + The zoom field and the cursor coordinates indicator have been rearranged + for compactness and moved to the right end of the statusbar. There's also + a window resize handle added at the very end of the statusbar. + + +Tool style indicators + + For each object-creating tool (shapes, Pen/Pencil, Calligraphic, Text), + the Controls bar (above the canvas) now includes a style indicator on the + right. This indicator shows you which style the newly created object will + have. + + * The indicator correctly displays whichever style the tool is set to + use - the global "last set" style or that tool's fixed style. For + example, clicking on a palette swatch (even with nothing selected) + changes the "last set" color and, if your tool is set to use the last + set color, its indicator is updated, giving you an idea of your + "brush" before you start to draw. + + +Controls bar for the Text tool + + * This version adds the beginnings of a Controls Bar for the Text tool + (previously empty). Now you can select the font family, size, apply + bold and italic styles, change alignment and text orientation without + opening the Text and Font dialog. + + * All controls are instant-apply and work on the entire text object (if + nothing selected) or text selection. They can also apply to multiple + text objects (though you would need to switch to Selector to select + multiple text objects, then switch back to Text tool for its + controls). + + * The font-family drop-down contains names and previews of all fonts; + unlike other programs, we didn't apply each font to its name, but + added a separate preview string displayed with gray color after each + font's name. This design ensures readability of font family names and + provides maximum useful information in a limited space. + + * We will be adding more controls (including spacing and kerning) to + this bar for the next versions. + + +Docked color palette + + * Previously, color swatches could only be used from a floating palette + (Ctrl+Shift+W). Now the color swatches palette is embedded in the main + UI, at the bottom of the window between the canvas and the statusbar. + It is enabled by default; use View > Show/Hide > Palette to enable or + disable it. The docked palette has the same functionality as the + floating one; use a button in the top right corner to access the + swatches menu. + + * The Wrap option (off by default) in the swatches menu converts the + palette from a single row into a frame 2 or 3 rows high, for better + access to colors in large palettes. + + * Drag and Drop of colors has been enabled. + + * Dragging colors from a palette shows a live swatch of the color + being dragged under cursor. + * Drag and Drop of colors onto the selected style indicator in the + statusbar sets the fill or stroke of the selected object(s). + * Colors can be dropped directly on to objects on canvas to set + their fill, or shift+dropped to set their stroke. This affects + only the object you drop the color on, regardless of whether that + object is selected or not. + * Colors can be dragged to and from other applications. + + * The new Inkscape default color palette was added. It contains a range + of grays, standard HTML named colors, and a full range of colors + sorted by their HSL values (475 colors overall). It is generated by a + Python script which is available from Inkscape SVN in share/palettes. + + * Several specialized color palettes, useful in color-coordinated + projects, were created or borrowed from GIMP: Grays, Reds, Greens, + Blues, Gold, Royal, Khaki, Hilite, and Topographic. + + * All standard sizes of the swatches (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge) + are made smaller overall. + + +Inkscape Preferences dialog + + Not only was the Inkscape Preferences dialog completely rewritten and + redesigned, with numerous bugs fixed in the rewrite. + + * The dialog is now fully GNOME-HIG compliant. + + * As a new feature, the Simplify threshold can now be set with more + precision. + + +Document Properties / Metadata dialogs + + * The Document Preferences dialog is now named Document Properties, and + it was split in two: metadata were extracted into the Document + Metadata dialog; metadata widgets are now also spread over two pages. + + * A button was added to fit the canvas to the current selection or, if + there's no selection, to the entire drawing. The button resizes the + canvas and, if necessary, moves the drawing into place. It is now very + easy to size the canvas to an illustration after it is ready. + + * New controls: the new object snapping features required their own + property widgets, and you can set the snapping sensitivity with a + slider, or let it snap regardless of distance (grid only). + + * Rearrangements within Document Properties: everything snapping-related + was collected on one page; Grid and Guide widgets are on their own, + the same page. For better HIG compliance, all widgets were + categorized; especially the widgets on the Page page were completely + rearranged in the General/Format/Border categories. + + * Bug fixes: grayed out license URI had too low contrast, so it's no + longer grayed out; the proprietary license didn't clean the license + URI; spinbuttons had no tooltips, and minor grid quirks were removed; + data was not updated when a new file replaced another in the same + window. + + * HIG compliance: much work went into that, and now only a few details + are missing from full Gnome-HIG compliance. + + * Updated Creative Commons Licenses: Updated CC licenses to the latest + 2.5 versions by default in the license tab of the metadata dialog. + + +Configurable keyboard + + Inkscape's keyboard shortcuts are now configurable! + + At this time, not all Inkscape actions can have their shortcuts + customized. However, the majority of actions, including everything you see + in the menus, are already configurable, and we're working on making more + actions configurable. + + On startup, Inkscape reads its keyboard shortcuts from + share/keys/default.xml. That file is a copy of inkscape.xml in the same + directory, which also contains keyboard emulation profiles for other + vector editors: + + * xara.xml: Xara X/Xara Xtreme/Xara LX keys + + You can copy any of these over default.xml to use that profile. In all + profiles, those keys which are not used by the corresponding program still + have their Inkscape bindings. If you can contribute a profile for some + vector editor that we don't yet have, we will appreciate that. The files + have a simple XML-based format described in inkscape.xml. + + You can also customize some of your keybindings without overwriting the + main default.xml. If your profile directory (~/.inkscape on Linux) + contains a keys subdirectory with a default.xml file, the keybindings from + that file will overlay (i.e. add to, and override in case of a conflict) + the default bindings. The format of your own default.xml is the same as + that of the main default.xml. + + +Menus + + * Zoom commands in the View menu are moved to a submenu; the Zoom In and + Zoom Out commands are added to that submenu. + + * Clone commands are moved into a submenu in Edit menu and given more + descriptive names and tips. + + * Pattern commands (Objects to Pattern and Pattern to Objects) are moved + into a submenu in Object menu, under the new Clip and Mask submenus. + + * The contents of the Effects menu are categorized into submenus, and + several effects are renamed to use more intuitive names. + + +Statusbar + + * In Selector, for multiple selected objects, the statusbar now reports + their types. For example, if 5 groups are selected, it displays + + 5 objects of type Group in layer LayerName. + + instead of just "5 objects selected" as before. If there are up to + 3 types in the selection, they will be listed, for example: + + 5 objects of types Group, Path, Rectangle in layer + LayerName. + + The order of the list will correspond to the order in which the + objects were added to selection. If there are 4 or more types in + selection, only the number of types is reported, for example: + + 5 objects of 4 types in layer LayerName. + + * In Selector, objects selected in groups are now identified as such, + and the group ID is given, for example: + + Rectangle in group g212 (layer content) + + If selected objects have different parents within one layer (for + example, if one is selected in a group and another outside it), + the number of parents is reported: + + 2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 parents + (layer content) + + If objects are in different layers, only the number of layers is + reported since this also implies different parents: + + 2 objects of types Rectangle, Path in 2 layers + + * In Node tool, if your node selection includes nodes from different + subpaths, statusbar reports the number of subpaths with selection and + the total number of subpaths, for example: + + 2 of 195 nodes selected in 2 of 36 subpaths. + + * The contents of the statusbar message are now duplicated as a tooltip + that is shown when you hover the mouse over the statusbar. + + * The statusbar text is now no longer just cut off if there is + insufficient room, but an ellipsis (...) is inserted at the end to + show there's more (only with Gtk 2.6 and newer). + + +Theme + + * Inkscape has a new default icon set titled "Crispy" provided by Andre + Sousa. The new icons are intended to add a more professional and + cohesive look to our application, as well as to make the functions the + icons represent more self-evident. + + + Tools + Node tool - * Clicking on a selected path selects the two nodes closest to the click - point. Shift+click adds or removes these two nodes to the node - selection (when only one path is selected; otherwise Shift+click works - as in Selector). - - * Double click or Ctrl+Alt+click anywhere on the selected path (even if - it is under other objects) creates a new node at the click point, - without changing the shape of the path. (Previously, you could only - add a node in the middle of a segment by using a toolbar button.) - - * You can now edit the selected path (even if it's under other objects) - by dragging any curve point, not only node(s) as before. In many cases - it's a much more convenient way to reshape paths than anything - available before. When you drag a curve close enough to one of the - nodes, only that node's handle(s) are affected; if you drag a point - midway between two nodes, both nodes' handles are adjusted. - - * When mouse is over a draggable path, the cursor is changed to - include a hand. - - * As in Selector, if you press Shift before starting to drag, you always - get a node selection rubberband rectangle (even if you start on a path - but not a node!). - - * After duplicating (Shift+D) an endnode, the selected node is always - the new endnode, so you can move it at once. - - * Selected nodes are displayed a little larger than non-selected ones. - -Extensions - - * Add Nodes: Adds nodes to the selected paths. Each segment of the - selected path is subdivided into ceil(Length/Max) equal length - segments. Lengths are measured in SVG User Units calculated from the - path data and does not take into account any transforms. - - * Whirl: Twists the selected paths around the specified center point. - * Summer's Night: Linearly distorts a path into the destination - quadrilateral. The destination quadrilateral is specified by a four - node path (closed or not). To use, draw and position a four node path. - Select the four node path first and then add to selection the path you - wish to distort. The original position of the four nodes is considered - to be clockwise around the bounding box of the path to distort - beginning in the upper left corner. - - * The Wavy extension is renamed to Function Plotter and got many fixes - and improvements. Importantly, now you don't have to provide an - analytic formula for the derivative; instead, check the "Calculate the - first derivative numerically" checkbox and it will itself calculate - the angle at each node. In the function/derivative formulas, you can - use functions from the math (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-math.html) - and random (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-random.html) Python - modules. As before, you need to have a rectangle selected before calling - this extension. - - * Development continues on SVGSlice but it has not yet been fully - integrated into Inkscape. Please visit Digital Unleashed - (http://www.digitalunleashed.com/giving.php) for details and downloads. - -More new functionality - - * A separate project, the Open Clip Art Library Browser provides an easy - way to browse local and remote clipart collections and insert clipart - into Inkscape. Please visit - http://www.python.org/pypi/clipartbrowser/0.41 for details and - downloads. (A Google SoC project.) + Node sculpting + + An entirely new way of manipulating paths in Node tool is added in this + version: Node sculpting. Normally, when you have several nodes selected + and you drag one of them, all selected nodes move by the same amount. Now, + if you Alt-drag one of the selected nodes, only that node is fully + displaced; other selected nodes are moved less than the full amount, so + that those farthest from the drag point remain stationary. This is similar + to "proportional editing" or "soft selection" in 3D editors such as + Blender. + + So, for example, if you select several nodes on a straight line and + Alt+drag the middle selected node, the path will bend into a smooth + bell-like curve. Nodes' handles are also adjusted correspondingly to keep + the overall shape smooth and natural. (If you don't have enough nodes on a + path fragment that you want to reshape in this way, just select the end + nodes of that fragment and press Ins a few times to populate it with + nodes.) + + Moreover, node sculpting is sensitive to pressure of your tablet pen. If + you press slightly, your curve will have a narrow sharp tip (i.e. the + nearest neighbors of your dragged node will move only a bit); if you press + hard, the curve's tip will be wide and blunt (i.e. the nearest neighbors + will move almost as much as the dragged node). (Hint: to stop dragging + without losing your shape, first release Alt and then lift the tip of the + pen.) + + There are many possible applications of the sculpting technique. To take a + simple example, selecting all nodes of an ellipse-like shape and + Alt+dragging one of them will smoothly and naturally stretch and skew the + entire shape in any direction. Doing the same to a complex path, such as + star or spiral, will twist and punch it without destroying its intricate + structure - this is the way to get squashed or self-intersecting stars, + eccentric spirals and other shapes not easily doable before. Selecting + only part of all nodes allows you to smoothly reshape parts of the figure + without disturbing the rest. + + When applied to text converted to path, node sculpting is a fun and easy + way to twist, bend and distort it, achieving effects similar to + "perspective envelope" or "curvilinear envelope" in other programs - but + in a more powerful and flexible way. For example, by selecting all or part + of the text's nodes and Alt-dragging, you can not only make a wavy banner + out of a paragraph of text, but also apply a "magnifying lens"-like effect + to any word in the middle. + + Especially useful node sculpting is for complex natural paths, such as + calligraphic strokes or bitmap traces, where you often want to do + large-scale pushes and bends without destroying the small-scale features. + Things like making a calligraphic stroke narrower in one place and wider + in another, or changing the proportions, extending the ear or flattening + the nose of a head - all this is now much faster and more natural to do + using sculpting. It is also a new way to create new paths, too - starting + from en ellipse with added nodes, it takes just a few Alt+drags to tweak + it into a silhouette of a head, or a map of Australia, or an Inkscape + logo! + + Some examples are shown on the screenshot: + [www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-nodesculpting.png]. + + + "Show handles" toggle + + The Controls bar for the Nodes tool now includes a toggle button which + controls whether Bezier handles are shown on selected nodes (on by + default). Selecting and dragging nodes on node-dense paths in zoom-out + (e.g. for node sculpting) may be extremely difficult without hiding the + handles, as it's hard to pick a node and not a handle when handles are + shown. + + + New deletion behavior + + * In Node tool, deleting node(s) by Del/Backspace keys or by + Ctrl+Alt+clicking a node now tries to preserve, as much as possible, + the current shape of the path. This means that the nodes adjacent to + those being deleted have their handles adjusted to approximate the + form that the path had before deletion. For example, if you + Ctrl+Alt+click a path twice, once to add a new node and then to delete + it, the path will not change at all (or change very slightly). The old + deletion behavior without adjusting handles is still available via + Ctrl+Del or Ctrl+Backspace. + + + Preserving positions of nodes and handles + + * When you switch the type of the selected node to Smooth or Symmetric + by pressing Shift+S/Shift+Y, you can now preserve the position of one + of the two handles by hovering your mouse over it, so that only the + other handle is rotated/scaled to match. + + * Similarly, when you join endnodes by pressing Shift+J, you can + preserve the position of one of the two nodes by hovering your mouse + over it, so that only the other node is moved. + + + Miscellaneous + + * The ! key inverts node selection in the current subpath(s) (i.e. + subpaths with at least one selected node); Alt+! inverts in the entire + path. (This is similar to how these keys work in Selector, with + current subpath(s) instead of the current layer.) + + * The keyboard shortcut for "Make selected segments curves" in Node tool + is changed from Shift+K to Shift+U for better mnemonics. + + +Calligraphic pen + + + Tremor + + * Even when using a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity, the + Calligraphy pen's strokes often look too smooth and artificial. To + enable a more natural look, the new Tremor parameter is added to the + Calligraphy tool in this version. Adjustable in the Controls bar from + 0.0 to 1.0, it will affect your strokes producing anything from slight + unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands + the creative range of the tool. + + + Pen width + + * In all previous versions, pen width depended on zoom in such a way + that the strokes appeared the same visible width at any zoom, but were + in fact narrower at zoom-in and wider at zoom-out. This behavior makes + sense if you want to keep the same "feel" of the pen regardless of + zoom; for example, if you zoomed in to make a small fix to your + drawing, it's natural that your pen becomes physically smaller but + feels the same to you. So, this behavior is kept as the default, but + now we also added an alternative mode where your pen width is constant + in absolute units regardless of zoom. To switch to this mode, use the + checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by + double-clicking the tool button). + + * The Width field in the tool's controls bar now changes from 1 to 100, + which corresponds to the range from 0.01 to 1.0 in the previous + version. If the "width in absolute units" mode is turned on, the value + in this fields gives the width of the stroke in px units. In the + default mode, the value of 100 gives 100px wide strokes only at 100% + zoom, and strokes are correspondingly narrower or wider at other zoom + levels. + + + Selection + + * A new preferences option for the Calligraphic tool, Keep selected, + controls whether the newly created object remains selected after you + finish drawing it. If you turn it off (by default it's on) and set the + tool to using Last Set color, you can easily choose a new color by + clicking on the palette without having to worry if this will change + the color of the stroke you just created. (Watch the tool style + indicator at the right end of the Controls bar for the style of the + next stroke you will draw.) + + * Esc deselects selected objects in Calligraphic, as in most other + tools. + + + Style + + * The stroke you're drawing is now shown, while you're drawing it, with + the correct color and opacity that it will eventually have, instead of + always black as before. + + * On a new Inkscape installation, this tool now uses the last set style + by default instead of the fixed black as before (this is changeable in + the Inkscape Preferences for the tool). + + +Pen tool + + * While drawing a path, you can now move the last node you created by + the same keys as in Node tool - that is, arrows, with Shift (for 10x + displacement) or Alt (screen pixel displacement) modifiers. + + * Also, you can switch the not-yet-finalized (red) segment of the path + being drawn from curve to line (Shift+L) or back to curve (Shift+U), + again the same shortcuts as in the Node tool. + + * By popular demand, if a new path is being drawn but not yet finished, + Ctrl+Z cancels that unfinished path (i.e. does the same as Esc), + instead of undoing the previous action. + + * In Pen tool, Del works the same as Backspace to delete the last + created point on the unfinished path. + + + Clipping and masking + + Inkscape now provides some UI for using clipping paths and masks. + + * Any object can be non-destructively intersected with a path (called a + clipping path) so that only the intersected portion of the object is + visible. + + * To apply clipping, select the objects to be clipped and the + clipping path object, make sure the clipping path is above the + other objects in z-order, and do Object > Clip > Set. + * You can transform, edit, or style the clipped objects as usual. + The clipping remains applied and transforms together with each + clipped object. + * To remove the clipping, do Object > Clip > Release. The clipping + path is returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is + inserted on top of the unclipped object in z-order. + + * Any object can be non-destructively masked by another object (called + mask) so that: the mask's black or transparent areas become fully + transparent in the masked object; mask's opaque white areas become + fully opaque; and all intermediate colors translate into intermediate + levels of opacity in the masked object. This allows you to apply, for + example, arbitrary transparency gradients to objects. + + * To apply a mask, select the objects to be masked and the mask + object, make sure the mask is above the other objects in z-order, + and do Object > Mask > Set. + * You can transform, edit, or style the masked objects as usual. + The mask remains applied and transforms together with each masked + object. + * To remove the masking, do Object > Mask > Release. The mask is + returned to the drawing as a regular object; it is inserted on + top of the unmasked object in z-order. + + * Objects with clippath show their bounding box intersected with the + bounding box of the clippath, instead of the original unclipped bbox + as before. (However, this does not apply to objects without clippath + of their own which are clipped by being inside a clipped group.) + + * Clipped or masked objects display "clipped" or "masked", + correspondingly, in their statusbar descriptions. + + * Although Inkscape had render-only support for clipping paths and masks + for quite some time, in this release we fixed a number of bugs which + may affect the display of your documents using clippaths or masks. + + * Clippaths and masks with objectBoundingBox units are now shown + correctly upon loading of the document. + * Clippaths without fill didn't work, this is now fixed. + * Objects with clippaths or masks are correctly copied/pasted + between documents. + + + Transformations + + +Transform dialog + + Fixes and improvements in the Transform dialog (Ctrl+Shift+M): + + * The Apply to each object separately checkbox is added, allowing you to + scale/rotate/skew each selected object by the same amount, around that + object's center. When off (by default), the selection is transformed + as a whole. The status of this checkbox is remembered across sessions. + (It has no effect on Move and Matrix tabs). + + * The Clear button resets the values on the current tab to defaults. + + * The Scale tab now allows you to specify horizontal or vertical size + increments in percentage or absolute units. Also, there's a Scale + proportionally checkbox which ensures that scaling preserves the + width/height ratio. (If you are scaling several objects proportionally + with "Apply to each object separately", you can only use the % unit to + specify the scaling; otherwise each object's scale increments will + have the width/height ratio of the entire selection, not of that + specific object.) + + * The Skew tab can now specify the skew as an absolute displacement + (e.g. for horizontal skewing of a rectangle, that means the shift of + the top rectangle side relative to the bottom), as percentage + displacement (e.g. a 1% horizontal skew of a rectangle means shifting + the top side by 1% of the rectangle height), or as an angle (e.g. + horizontal skew by 15 degrees results in the sides of a rectangle + being rotated to that angle, while the top and bottom remain + horizontal). + + * The Matrix tab (previously called "Transform") can either edit the + current transform= matrix of an object, or post-multiply the + transform= with the matrix you specify, depending on the Edit current + matrix checkbox. (As it is now redundant, the transformation matrix in + the Object Properties dialog is removed.) + + * The dialog now correctly watches selection changes in the active + document window and updates its values accordingly. + + * The layout of the dialog is simplified, tooltips and mnemonics added + for better usability. + + * Many bugs are fixed, especially in value conversions between units. + + +Persistent rotation centers + + * The position of the center (axis) of rotation and skewing used by + Selector is now remembered for all objects and restored when you + select those objects again (even after saving and reopening the + document). When you move or scale an object, its rotation center is + moved or scaled too, so its position relative to the object always + remains the same unless you move it explicitly. + + * When you have several objects selected, they use the rotation center + of the first selected object. If the first object does not have center + set (i.e. if it's in a default central position), then several objects + will rotate around the geometric center of their common bounding box + (as before). + + * Shift+click on the rotation center resets it back to the center of the + object's box. + + * Consequently, dragging the rotation center is now an undoable action; + you can press Ctrl+Z to undo the drag. + + * Keyboard rotation by [, ] keys with various modifiers, as well as the + Rotate tab in the Transform dialog, work around the selected object's + rotation center (for multi-object selection, the rotation center of + the first selected object). + + * Rotation centers are preserved when duplicating, cloning (including + clone tiler), grouping/ungrouping, and converting to path. + + +Pasting size + + A number of commands are added to easily scale selected objects to match + the size of the object(s) previously copied to the clipboard. They are all + in the Paste Size submenu in Edit menu: + + * Paste Size scales the whole selection to match the overall size of the + clipboard object(s). + + * Paste Width/Paste Height scale the whole selection + horizontally/vertically so that it matches the width/height of the + clipboard object(s). These commands honor the scale ratio lock on the + Selector controls bar (between W and H fields), so that when that lock + is pressed, the other dimension of the selected object is scaled in + the same proportion; otherwise the other dimension is unchanged. + + * Paste Size Separately, Paste Width Separately and Paste Height + Separately work similarly to the above described commands, except that + they scale each selected object separately to make it match the + size/width/height of the clipboard object(s). + + + Connectors and automatic layout + + * There have been numerous bugfixes and several improvements to the + behaviour of connectors and the connector tool: + + * Connectors moved as part of a selection will now stay attached to + other objects in the selection, rather than becoming detached + from them. + * By default, the Connector tool will not attach connectors to text + objects. There is a new checkbox in the connector preferences to + control this setting. + * The margins around avoided shapes (used for autorouting + connectors) can now be adjusted via the "Spacing" control on the + controls bar. + + * Automatic Diagram Layout: A new button is available in the Align and + Distribute dialog that performs automatic layout of diagrams involving + a network of shapes and connectors. Layout is accomplished using + force-directed graph layout based on the Kamada-Kawai algorithm. This + algorithm treats edges as if they are springs such that the distance + between nodes will be proportional to the path length - number of + connectors - between them. Disconnected components (where not every + shape is connected) will be arranged around the circumference of a + circle. + + * There is a new Remove Overlaps button to move the selected objects + enough that they don't overlap each other. A minimum spacing between + the boundaries of objects can be specified. Together with the + automatic layout tool, described above, this should be a significant + addition to Inkscape's usability for diagramming. Removing overlaps is + different from the "Unclump" button in that the former is completely + deterministic and guarantees removing overlaps on the first + application, but is not concerned with visual perceptive distances + between objects. Unclumping, on the other hand, attempts to equalize + perceptive distances between objects and can be applied repeatedly for + gradual effect. + + + Selective tracing with SIOX + + * Inkscape 0.44 has an early version of the Simple Interactive Object + Extraction (SIOX) algorithm (see siox.org) implemented in its bitmap + tracing code. For a quick reference on how this is used, please see + this file. This clever algorithm from the realm of Image Recognition + allows you to select areas of similar color, with the goal of + extracting a foreground area from the background. To use: + + * Enable the SIOX checkbox in addition to your usual tracing + options. + * Select both the bitmap and an object that covers the foreground + and part of background, leaving only background areas of the + image uncovered. + * Hit OK. SIOX will now analyze and attempt to pull out the + foreground-colored areas you want, and trace only those parts of + the image. + + * The full SIOX selection mechanism (e.g. the ability to identify + foreground and background areas separately) is not implemented yet, + but is planned for a future release. + + + Snapping + + * In addition to be able to snap to guides and grids, you can now snap + to objects or their paths or nodes. Be aware, however, that this is + both experimental code - there may be surprises - and you can easily + find yourself in a situation where inkscape tries to snap your 1000 + nodes to 1000 surrounding objects, something that will take over your + CPU. So be careful what option you turn on in the Document Preferences + dialog and where you use it. + + * Guidelines are made easier to pick: now you don't need to position + mouse exactly over a guideline to activate it, instead there's a small + position tolerance (1 screen pixel on each side of the guideline). + + + Sublayers + + Previously, it was only possible to make a group a temporary sublayer by + entering that group. Now Inkscape supports creating and using true + persistent sublayers within a layer. + + * The Add layer dialog allows you to place the new layer above, below, + or inside the current layer. + + * In Preferences (Selecting tab), options are added allowing the "Select + All" command and Tab key selection to work either in the current layer + only or in the current layer and its sublayers. + + + Markers + + * Converting stroke to path now correctly processes dashed strokes. For + paths with markers, this command now creates a group containing the + stroke converted to path and all its markers as independent objects + (i.e. they are not markers anymore, but instead you can easily + transform them or paint them any color, as a workaround for the + "markers don't take the color of the stroke" bug; to be properly + fixed, this bug requires implementing some SVG 1.2 features). + + * The DimensionIn and DimensionOut markers are changed so that the arrow + tips exactly correspond to node positions. It is now very easy to make + dimension lines that correspond to drawn objects. The dimension + specifications can now easily be chained by splitting a straight line + at a point and assigning DimensionIn/Out markers to the resulting + smaller paths whose endpoints coincide. + + * All arrow markers in the standard set are moved on the path so that + their tips are as close as possible to the corresponding node of the + path. Complete coincidence is not possible, because it would cause the + blunt end of the stroke itself to be visible under the sharp tip of + the arrow, distorting its shape. However, now the arrow tips are much + closer to their nodes than before, and probably sufficiently close for + many practical situations. + + * A new RazorWire path marker was added. By applying it as a mid-marker + you can get a good approximation of a razor wire. + + + Extensions + + * The Effects menu is now always on, it's no longer an "experimental + feature". The preference setting to enable the menu has been removed. + + * Python extensions (which includes almost all currently available + extensions) work on Windows out of the box, using a copy of Python + shipping with Inkscape. The only minor inconvenience is that when an + effect is launched, you get an empty console window that stays on + while the effect is doing its work. (Don't close that window, it will + disappear by itself when the effect is finished.) + + * A new Python effect, Render > LaTeX formula, allows you to type in any + LaTeX formula and get a vector object with the TeX rendition of this + formula inserted into your document. You need to have latex, dvips, + and pstoedit installed and in PATH for this to work. + + * A new Python effect, Flatten Path, flattens paths in the current + selection, approximating each path with a polyline whose segments meet + the specified criteria for flatness. + + * A new Python effect, Measure Path, attaches a text label to each path + in the selection giving the length of that path (in px units). + + * The Radius Randomize effect has a new parameter which enables normal + distribution of random displacements instead of uniform as before, + which gives a more natural feel to the randomized path. + + * The Render > L-system (formerly "Fractal (Lindenmayer)") effect is + improved in this version. Now you can specify different angle values + for turning left and right, which makes it possible to smoothly bend + some L-systems sideways. Also, you can separately randomize the step + length and the angles by a given percent for more natural look (this + works especially well with plant-like branching shapes). This effect + can be used to create Penrose tiling, Sierpinsky triangle, Dragon + curve and other famous mathematical artefacts, as well as various + meanders, friezes, patterns, and trees. Some examples can be seen on + this screenshot: + inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.44-lindenmayer.png as well + as in the new example file share/examples/l-systems.svg. + + * The Interpolate Path, Random Tree, and L-system effects are fixed to + place their result on the current layer instead of document root and + in the center of the (last-saved) document view instead of 0,0 as + before. + + * INX files now have the ability to hold more information. This includes + tooltips and descriptions of the extensions. These are all also + translatable. + + * Thanks to keyboard configurability, it is now possible to assign + keyboard shortcuts to those effects you use most often, so you can + activate them without going into the menu. + + + Formats + + * Inkscape's PDF export is now native (i.e. does not require any + external applications) and supports transparency, including gradients + with transparency. This replaced the old export extension that + required Ghostscript and worked via Postscript, losing any + transparency. The new PDF export is still immature; in particular it + does not handle text, so you should check "Convert text to path" on + the export options dialog. Other things not yet supported include: + gradients on stroke; eccentric elliptic gradients; patterns, masks, + and clipping paths; embedded images. + + * You can now Save as Compressed Inkscape SVG with media.This save + option collects the svg file and all linked images into a zip archive + for distribution. Although you cannot open the resulting archive + directly with inkscape, the media is linked such that after unzipping + you can open the SVG file immediately. + + * An output format for desktop cutting plotters, such as the Wishblade + and Craftrobo, was added. This format is a very minimalist DXF file + with appropriate scaling and translation applied. This output format + should not be expected to operate as a generalized DXF output. + + * Inkscape can open/import default files generated by the Xfig vector + graphics editor. This requires that the fig2dev command (transfig) is + in your PATH. + + * Starting with this version, there is a limited ability to export + Inkscape drawing shapes as Open Document Format drawings (.odg files). + Currently the export is limited to text, shapes, and solid fill and + strokes. This output will be improved in the coming months. In the + meantime, however, ODG output is already useful for getting your SVG + drawings into the Open Document world, in particular into an office + suite such as OpenOffice.org. + + * The new XCF output extension exports all top-level elements (i.e. + layers and objects directly under root) as PNGs and assembles them + into an XCF for procesing in the Gimp. Requires Python, PyXML and + Gimp. Gimp 2.2.x or above must be in the path and be named gimp. A + version of Inkscape 0.44 or above must be accessible from the path. + Does not function in Windows. + + + Miscellaneous shortcuts + + * Now you can use Shift+middle button drag, in any tool, to zoom into an + area. This works the same as simple drag in Zoom tool, but is faster + because it does not require switching away from your current tool. + Together with middle button drag (panning), middle button click (zoom + in) and Shift+middle button click (zoom out), this completes the set + of canvas navigation shortcuts available in any tool or context. + + * In Gradient tool, Shift+R reverses the gradient definition (i.e. + mirrors the stop positions) without moving the gradient handles. For + example, an elliptic gradient with blue center and red periphery + becomes red in the center and blue in the periphery. This works on the + gradient(s) of the currently selected gradient handle or, if no handle + is selected, on all selected objects' gradients. (Compare with the + Node tool where Shift+R reverses the direction of the selected path.) + This is especially convenient for elliptic gradients which, unlike + linear, you cannot simply rotate by 180 degrees for the same result. + + * In Selector, Ctrl+Enter enters the selected group (making it a + temporary layer). Ctrl+Backspace leaves the current layer and goes one + layer up in the hierarchy (but not to root). + + + Miscellaneous improvements + + * Document templates (listed in File > New) are now first searched in + the templates subdirectory of the user's profile directory (on Linux + it's ~/.inkscape/templates), then in the system-wide Inkscape + templates directory. This allows you to add your own templates on top + of the list of standard templates, as well as override the default + template with your own one (the default.svg in the profile directory + has priority over the system-wide one). + + * When toggling one of the "transform with object" buttons (for stroke + width, rounded rectangle corners, gradients, or patterns), a message + is displayed in the statusbar explaining what has changed in the + program's behavior. Hopefully this will reduce the number of + complaints from users who had accidentally toggled one of these and + were surprised by the result. + + * Whole thousands above 2000 in the rulers are now displayed as 2k, 3k, + 4k etc. + + * In the Document Preferences dialog, the new object style for each tool + is now shown as a style swatch (displaying fill/stroke colors and + opacity, stroke width, and master opacity), similar in design to the + selected style indicator in the statusbar. + + * In the Grid Arrange dialog, row/column spacing can now be negative. + + * The installation default is now to scale the rounded rectangle corners + with the rectangles themselves (the previous default mode, still + available as an option, was to keep rounding radii unchanged when + scaling rectangles). + + * Added a new --export-area-canvas command line parameter that causes + the exported PNG to contain the full canvas. This option as well as + --export-area-drawing and --export-area can now be used along with + --export-id and --export-id-only for greater flexibility. + + * The --query-* command line parameters now return the true SVG bounding + box of the object instead of the Inkscape coordinate system bbox (with + inverted Y axis). The new behavior makes more sense for scripting use + of Inkscape. + + * The dpi value in the Export dialog has had its range extended; now + possible values are from 0.01 to 100000. + + * Individual s within text objects (including line tspans) can + now be selected via the XML editor to view their bounding boxes + (though per SVG, you cannot transform them). Also, you can use the + --query-* command line parameters to find out the bounding boxes of + tspans from a script. (Individual strings within or between tspans are + still not selectable, and they cannot have an ID for querying anyway.) + + * The placeholder image which is shown when a bitmap file was no longer + accessible reads now "Linked image not found" instead of the confusing + "Broken image". + + * Cloning multiple selected objects now works as expected (i.e. each + selected object is cloned separately, similar to the Duplicate + command). Previously you could only clone a single selected object. + + * The separate "license" and "contributors" dialogs have been merged + into tabs on the About dialog. The about dialog now correctly sizes + itself to fit the size of the splash SVG (while remaining resizable), + and the rendering area is now cropped to the correct aspect ratio when + the dialog is resized. The dialog also now displays the build + information in the upper right corner. + + * In the Transform dialog / Rotate tab, the icon was flipped + horizontally to be in line with the direction of positive rotation; + the change was applied to the default (now crispy) and legacy icon + sets. + + * The scale ratio lock button on the Selector controls bar shows a + closed lock when pressed and open lock otherwise (same as the layer + lock in the statusbar). + + * The Browse button on Export dialog now opens the new file chooser, + same as those used by Open and Save. + + + Miscellaneous bugfixes + + * Reading a document with an incorrect namespace URI not only did not + cause Inkscape to complain, but could also "pollute" Inkscape's + internal namespace table, resulting in an "infection" of subsequently + saved documents by the incorrect namespace. This is now fixed, but as + a result, documents with incorrect namespace URIs will no longer load. + You will have to edit them in a text editor to fix the namespaces. + + * With newer versions of GTK, dragging with graphics tablet pen did not + work in some tools and contexts (in particular, in Node and Rectangle + tools). This is fixed. + + * Scaling of objects with stroke in Selector used to cause undesired + shifts of the scaled object, as well as scaling it in the dimension + which was intended to remain untouched (e.g. slight change in width + when you scale only height). All these problems are now fixed, both + for interactive scaling by mouse and for numeric scaling via the + Controls bar, and for both values of the "Scale stroke with objects" + option. Among other things, this means that stroked objects no longer + lose snapping on scale, and that the "Default scale origin" option in + the Selector tool preferences finally works as designed. Caveat: There + may still be problems if you scale a selection that contains objects + with different stroke widths. + + * Scaling of stroke now works for objects that didn't specify + stroke-width; before, they always ended up with the default 1px + stroke. + + * The bounding box for text and flowed text objects did not include + stroke width. This has been fixed. + + * Stroke miterlimit on text objects was misinterpreted in absolute units + instead of multiplies of stroke width (resulting in miter joins + rendered as bevel). + + * The unfinished path in Pen tool is now cancelled, not finalized, when + you switch away from the Pen tool. Apart from being more intuitively + correct, this also fixes a crash when you quit Inkscape with the + unfinished path in Pen tool. + + * Fonts on Win32 now use the native font mapper, meaning that Inkscape's + font list is the same as other Windows programs, and the (potentially) + very long delay experienced when using fonts for the first time in + each session is gone. + + * Setting dash pattern was broken for transformed objects, and + copy/paste of style with dash pattern did not apply correctly to + objects with transforms. + + * An error caused a complete extra screen redraw after each zoom + operation. That is, after you press "+" in a complex drawing, Inkscape + redraws, but for some time after that it remains still unresponsive + because it does that second redraw (invisibly for you, i.e. nothing + changes on the screen). This is fixed. + + * Gradient rendering was off by one pixel, which often resulted in + visibly wrong gradient rendering for small objects or in zoom-out. + + * The SVG path parser could not handle fractional numbers with the + initial dot. + + * Several pattern rendering bugs are fixed, discovered by working with + SVG files exported from Adobe Illustrator. + + * Inkscape on Mac OS X will now notice fonts in your ~/Library/Fonts + directory, in addition to the other standard places. + + * Inkscape couldn't be compiled with libxml versions <= 2.6.9, and we + now bumped the requirements from 2.6.0 up to libxml >= 2.6.11, which + is the earliest you can get officially, anyway. + + * Inkscape no longer crashes when presented with a defective inx file + for extensions. + + * More document memory is now freed when documents are closed. + + * EPS output now correctly includes an %%EOF footer. + + * There was a regression in 0.43 that caused several minor, though + annoying bugs; knots and handles remained highlighted after the mouse + was released, and the rubberband selection rectangle stayed visible if + the selection was ended over a node while in the node tool. This + regression has been fixed. + + * The connector routing code would previously sometimes confuse objects + between multiple documents resulting in strange routing behaviour. + This has been fixed. + + * There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that allowed a malicious + outsider to very easily disrupt an Inkboard session. This has been + fixed. + + * There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause deadlocks + in the case that two users attempted to invite each other at the same + time (see bug #1352522 for further details). This should be fixed, + although the fix has not been widely tested. + + * There existed a bug in 0.43's Inkboard code that would cause session + invitations to not appear on the invitee's screen. This was the result + of a mistake in handling GDK modifier flags, and has been fixed. + + + Translations + + * INX files (containing the UI of the external effects) now allow the + user visible strings to be translated. This means that effect dialogs, + file type selections, and extension names can all be translated by + translators. + + * Now, 38 languages are translated, of which 12 significantly: Catalan, + Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lituanian, + Russian, Slovene, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Average + translation ratio has increased from 49% to 55%. + + * Some new translations of tutorials have been brought by contributors : + Czech, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian. + + + Internal + + * The Document Properties Dialog code was completely gtkmmified, which + lead to dramatic reduction of code size due to usage of widget + objects. The used widget objects should be reusable by other dialogs, + too, and the code is much more readable. + + * Work on optimizing includes in all cpp files started, using the + purgeincludes tool specifically written for that purpose, and ended + with 40% of include lines removed! + + + Known problems + + + Problems with libgc-6.7 + + * Inkscape will hang or even crash when linked with this (newest) + version of the Boehm garbage collection library. Make sure you use + libgc-6.5 or 6.6 until this is sorted out. + + + Namespaces may need fixing + + * Previous versions of inkscape sometimes silently saved documents with + wrong namespace URIs. This has been fixed, but such corrupted + documents will no longer load successfully. Such documents may require + their namespace declarations to be fixed by hand. + + + Beware of defective themes on Linux + + * Inkscape and other Gtk programs can crash on any Linux, when the + gtk2-engines-smooth / libsmooth package is installed. We have filed a + bug against libsmooth which is now in gtk-engine and part of gnome. + Removing the package resolves the problem, however, but it would be + nice if you as affected user would inform the gtk-engines maintainers + of the problem. See especially + http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312115 (thanks to Thomas + Wood) + * A similar crash happens if the KDE Baghira theme or the package + gtk_qt_engine are installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on + KDE, please try to install a different theme from Baghira, or + uninstall the gtk_qt_engine package from your system. Both problems + also affect older versions of Inkscape. + + + Make sure to remove menus.xml if you have it + + * If you were using certain CVS/SVN builds from autumn of 2005, you may + have the file menus.xml hanging around in your profile directory (e.g. + ~/.inkscape on Linux). In that case you will see many errors about + verbs that cannot be found, and some commands in menus will be + disabled. Make sure to delete menus.xml to fix this. + + + Previous releases + + * ReleaseNotes043 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes043) + * ReleaseNotes042 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes042) + * ReleaseNotes041 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes041) + * ReleaseNotes040 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes040) + * ReleaseNotes039 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes039) + * ReleaseNotes038 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes038) + * ReleaseNotes037 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes037) + * ReleaseNotes036 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes036) + * ReleaseNotes035 + (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes035) + + Retrieved from "http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Release_Notes" + + This page has been accessed 18,760 times. This page was last modified + 19:56, 9 June 2006. - * A separate utility has been developed to convert between DXF and SVG - formats. Please visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxf-svg-convert - for details and downloads. (A Google SoC project.) - - * Improved support for viewBox: If the root element of your - document has width/height attributes set in percentage units and - there's a viewBox on that element, then: - - * The canvas size is set to the value of the viewBox attribute. - * Changing the canvas size in Document Preferences sets the - viewBox, without touching the width/height values. - - This does not affect regular documents created in Inkscape, but - makes it easier to edit other SVG files that use viewBox. - - * The new command line parameter, --export-area-snap, used with bitmap - export to snap the export area outwards to the nearest integer SVG - user unit (px) values. If you are using the default export resolution - of 90dpi and your graphics are pixel-snapped to minimize antialiasing, - this switch allows you to preserve this alignment even if you are - exporting an area (for example, with --export-id or - --export-area-drawing) which is itself not pixel-aligned. - - * When saving as Postscript, you now have the option to convert or not - convert texts to paths (previously only available for EPS export). - -Interface and usability - - * The Icon Preview dialog has been improved. A toggle has been added to - switch between previewing the entire document or just the current - selection. A larger 128x128 size has been added to the defaults. The - sizes are now read from the preferences file and can be customized. - - * Rectangles and ellipses now use different handle shapes, so it's much - easier to see which handle does what. The two square handles change - the size of the object, while the two round handles adjust the - rounding corners (in rectangles) and arc/segment ends (in ellipses). - - * The controls for the Rectangle tool now include W and H fields for - setting the width/height of selected rectangle(s) numerically. - - * In the controls of Rectangle and Ellipse tools, the "Not rounded" and - "Make whole" buttons are now grayed out when the selected object - cannot use the corresponding function (i.e. when a rectangle is - already not rounded and the ellipse is already whole, which are the - defaults). - - * When editing text with the Text tool, the keypad + and - keys type the - corresponding characters if NumLock is on (otherwise they zoom in and - out as before). (Still does not work on Windows.) - - * In the Text tool, Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down now move one paragraph up or - down correspondingly. - - * The Calligraphic tool, in addition to the Ctrl+F6 shortcut, has a new - one-letter shortcut, `c'. - - * The Pen, Pencil, and Calligraphy tools finally have mouse cursors of - their own. - - * The canvas width/height fields in Document Preferences are never - grayed out. Instead, the menu of the canvas sizes scrolls itself to - "Custom" or to an appropriate standard size as you edit width/height. - - * Rectangle editing handles now snap to grid/guides (snapping for other - shapes' handles is expected to come in subsequent releases). - - * The pattern move handle is restricted to horizontal/vertical when Ctrl - is pressed. - - * In the Selector, dragging the rotation center handle snaps to the - edges and central axes of the selection's bounding box. - - * In the Pen tool, while you are drawing a path, the statusbar displays - the distance and angle of the current mouse point from the last - created node of the path. This makes it easy to create a path from the - given lengths and angles of linear segments. When you are dragging to - create a curve handle, the statusbar also displays the length and the - angle of the handle. - - * A new preference option, Compass-like angle display (in the Steps - tab), allows you to have absolute angles specified in a compass - notation (0 at north, 0 to 360 range, increasing clockwise) instead of - the default trigonometric notation (0 at east, -180 to 180 range, - increasing counterclockwise). This affects the statusbar angle display - for path segments and the handles in Pen and Node tools. - - * The Pen and Pencil tools now display helpful statusbar hints when the - mouse is over one of the end anchors of the selected path. - - * The precision of most editable length fields is increased from 0.01 to - 0.001. - - * The minimum zoom is extended from 4% to 1%. - - * Work has begun on menu sensitivity and configurability, but has been - disabled in the release. - -Packaging, documentation, examples - - * The windows installer has now a modular structure that allows the - selection of separate features such as examples, tutorials, or - translations. All options are supported for a silent installation. - * Windows packages now contain the release notes (NEWS file), authors - and translators lists, the README file, the GPL and the LGPL license - files. - * The Inkscape man page is updated with additional examples. - * The About dialog now more closely resembles the stock Gtk About - dialog. A full list of authors and translators, as well as the license - are now viewable. - -Translations - - * The MacOS X package now includes interface translations and reads the - user language setting, as specified in System Preferences, to use the - corresponding translation language. - * Many interface and tutorial translations have been updated. - -Important bugfixes - - * A systematic error when scaling objects with stroke via the Selector - controls panel (W and H fields) is fixed. - * In stroke dash patterns in CSS, comma separators were erroneously - replaced by spaces upon writing the document. For now, Inkscape will - still be capable of reading both space-separated and comma-separated - lists (for compatibility with old files), but it now always writes - correct comma-separated lists on output. - * Due to a bug, Inkscape tended to replace relative paths to embedded - images by absolute, which made them fail after moving a document to - another computer; this is fixed. - * The precision of most boolean operations and offsets is improved, - especially noticeably for small paths. - * In text on path, in some cases letters were distributed unevenly along - a curve; this is now fixed. - * Searching by text in the Find dialog (Ctrl+F) was broken, now fixed. - * Some of the stock markers were missing in the marker menus in the Fill - & Stroke dialog. - * The bounding box of a stroke with markers now includes the markers. - -Internal progress - - * Source documentation: the big goal is to have a brief description for - classes and most functions in every source file; this now holds for - more than 100 files of the 1350 files in the source code. The doxygen - index file now shows many useful links to external documentation and a - categorization of main directory files which should be useful for - beginners in particular. - * Removed trailing fractional zeros in SVG for cleaner and more compact - markup. - * C++ Encapsulation: the View class hierarchy has been reimplemented in - C++, after separating the widget classes from each class. The number - of dependencies on the central file desktop.h (about 100) was reduced - by half. - -Known issues - - Windows 95/98/ME support - - * Due to issues in GTK 2.8 beyond our control this version of Inkscape - will not work on Windows 95/98/ME. Please do not send us crash reports - from those platforms. We hope to be able to resume support for these - platforms in the future, but no specific committments can be made at - this point. - - Problems on Linux under KDE - - * SuSE, Fedora Core 4: Inkscape and other GTK programs are known to - crash if the KDE Baghira theme and the package gtk_qt_engine are - installed. If you experience Inkscape crashes on KDE, please try to - install a different theme from Baghira, or uninstall the gtk_qt_engine - package from your system. - * Kubuntu: For similar reasons, Inkscape can crash on Kubuntu Breezy - when, at the same time, the gtk2-engines-smooth package is installed. - Removing it resolves the problem. Both problems also affect older - versions of Inkscape. - - Pressure and tilt sensitivity - - * Pressure and tilt sensitivity do not currently work on MacOS X, due to - a limitation of the MacOS X version of X11. - * There are known issues with the current version of the X.org server - not releasing events on extended devices that use pressure - sensitivity. What that translates to is you can start a stroke, but - when you lift your pen, the stroke won't end (and will just continue - when you put your pen back on the tablet). This seem to be linked to - the usage of /dev/psaux for the mouse instead of /dev/input/mouseXX, - see http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/mouse1) - * The current version of GTK for Windows has a bug that affects tilt - sensitivity. - - Inkboard - - * Imported bitmaps are not transmitted to other users in a whiteboard - session. - * At present, Inkboard relies on Loudmouth - (http://loudmouth.imendio.org/) to provide Jabber connectivity, - which means that it is limited to Linux builds of Inkscape. - Inkboard is currently being redesigned to use a cross-platform - Jabber client; this redesign will be present in a future release. - * Inkboard cannot yet connect to Google Talk clients. This will be - remedied in a future release. (The reason is because it expects the - "server" portion of a Jabber ID to be the same as the server that it - contacts, which is not the case for the Google Talk network.) - * Inkboard's handling of concurrent modifications is still very rough. - Future releases will make this more robust. - - See http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=93438&atid=604306 for a - full list of known issues. If you find a bug not listed here, then please - report the bug: see instructions at http://inkscape.org/report_bugs.php - (the Report Bugs link from http://inkscape.org/). - -Previous releases - - * ReleaseNotes042 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes042) - * ReleaseNotes041 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes041) - * ReleaseNotes040 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes040) - * ReleaseNotes039 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes039) - * ReleaseNotes038 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes038) - * ReleaseNotes037 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes037) - * ReleaseNotes036 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes036) - * ReleaseNotes035 (http://inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ReleaseNotes035)