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INKSCAPE(1)		    Inkscape Commands Manual		     INKSCAPE(1)

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

SYNOPSIS
     "inkscape [options] [filename_1 filename_2 ...]"

     options:

	 -?, --help
	     --help-all
	     --help-gapplication
	     --help-gtk

	 -V, --version
	     --debug-info
	     --system-data-directory
	     --user-data-directory

	 -p, --pipe
	 -n, --pages=PAGE[,PAGE]
	     --pdf-poppler
	     --convert-dpi-method=METHOD
	     --no-convert-text-baseline-spacing

	 -o, --export-filename=FILENAME
	     --export-overwrite
	     --export-type=TYPE[,TYPE]*
	     --export-extension=EXTENSION-ID

	 -C, --export-area-page
	 -D, --export-area-drawing
	 -a, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
	     --export-area-snap
	 -d, --export-dpi=DPI
	 -w, --export-width=WIDTH
	 -h, --export-height=HEIGHT
	     --export-margin=MARGIN

	     --export-page=all|n[,a-b]
	 -i, --export-id=OBJECT-ID[;OBJECT-ID]*
	 -j, --export-id-only
	 -l, --export-plain-svg
	     --export-png-color-mode=COLORMODE
	     --export-png-compression=LEVEL
	     --export-png-antialias=LEVEL
	     --export-png-use-dithering=BOOLEAN
	     --export-ps-level=LEVEL
	     --export-pdf-version=VERSION
	 -T, --export-text-to-path
	     --export-latex
	     --export-ignore-filters
	 -t, --export-use-hints
	 -b, --export-background=COLOR
	 -y, --export-background-opacity=VALUE

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

	     --vacuum-defs
	     --select=OBJECT-ID[,OBJECT-ID]*
	     --actions=ACTION(:ARG)[;ACTION(:ARG)]*
	     --action-list
	     --actions-file=FILENAME

	 -g, --with-gui
	 -q, --active-window
	     --display=DISPLAY
	     --app-id-tag=TAG
	     --batch-process
	     --shell

DESCRIPTION
     Inkscape is a Free and open source vector graphics editor. It offers a rich
     set of features and is widely used for both artistic and technical illus-
     trations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming and
     flowcharting.  It uses vector graphics to allow for sharp printouts and
     renderings at unlimited resolution and is not bound to a fixed number of
     pixels like raster graphics. Inkscape uses the standardized SVG file format
     as its main format, which is supported by many other applications including
     web browsers.

     The interface is designed to be comfortable and efficient for skilled
     users, while remaining conformant to GNOME standards so that users familiar
     with other GNOME applications can learn its interface rapidly.

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

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

OPTIONS
     -?, --help
	     Shows a help message.

     --help-all
	     Shows all help options.

     --help-gapplication
	     Shows the GApplication options.

     --help-gtk
	     Shows the GTK+ options.

     -V, --version
	     Shows the Inkscape version and build date.

     --debug-info
	     Prints technical information including Inkscape version, dependency
	     versions and operating system.  This Information is useful when de-
	     bugging issues with Inkscape and should be included whenever filing
	     a bug report.

     --system-data-directory
	     Prints the system data directory where data files that ship with
	     Inkscape are stored. This includes files which Inkscape requires to
	     run (like unit definitions, built-in key maps, files describing UI
	     layout, icon themes, etc.), core extensions, stock resources (fil-
	     ters, fonts, markers, color palettes, symbols, templates) and docu-
	     mentation (SVG example files, tutorials).

	     The location in which Inkscape expects the system data directory
	     can be overridden with the INKSCAPE_DATADIR environment variable.

     --user-data-directory
	     Prints the user profile directory where user-specific data files
	     and preferences are stored.  Custom extensions and resources (fil-
	     ters, fonts, markers, color palettes, symbols, templates) should be
	     installed into their respective subdirectories in this directory.
	     In addition placing a file with a name identical to one in the sys-
	     tem data directory here allows to override most presets from the
	     system data directory (e.g. default templates, UI files, etc.).

	     The default location of the profile directory can be overridden
	     with the INKSCAPE_PROFILE_DIR environment variable.

     -p, --pipe
	     Reads input file from standard input (stdin).

     --pages=PAGE
	     Imports the given comma separated list of pages from a PDF, or
	     multi page SVG file.

	     This replaces the --pdf-page from previous Inkscape versions.

     --pdf-poppler
	     By default Inkscape imports PDF files via an internal (poppler-de-
	     rived) library.  Text is stored as text. Meshes are converted to
	     tiles.  Use --pdf-poppler to import via an external (poppler with
	     cairo backend) library instead. Text consists of groups containing
	     cloned glyphs where each glyph is a path.	Images are stored inter-
	     nally. Meshes cause entire document to be rendered as a raster im-
	     age.

     --convert-dpi-method=METHOD
	     Choose method used to rescale legacy (pre-0.92) files which render
	     slightly smaller due to the switch from 90 DPI to 96 DPI when in-
	     terpreting lengths expressed in units of pixels. Possible values
	     are "none" (no change, document will render at 94% of its original
	     size), "scale-viewbox" (document will be rescaled globally, indi-
	     vidual lengths will stay untouched) and "scale-document" (each
	     length will be re-scaled individually).

     --no-convert-text-baseline-spacing
	     Do not automatically fix text baselines in legacy (pre-0.92) files
	     on opening.  Inkscape 0.92 adopts the CSS standard definition for
	     the 'line-height' property, which differs from past versions.  By
	     default, the line height values in files created prior to Inkscape
	     0.92 will be adjusted on loading to preserve the intended text lay-
	     out.  This command line option will skip that adjustment.

     -o, --export-filename=FILENAME
	     Sets the name of the output file. The default is to re-use the name
	     of the input file.  If --export-type is also used, the file exten-
	     sion will be adjusted (or added) as appropriate.  Otherwise the
	     file type to export will be inferred from the extension of the
	     specified filename.

	     Usage of the special filename "-" makes Inkscape write the image
	     data to standard output (stdout).

     --export-overwrite
	     Overwrites input file.

     --export-type=TYPE[,TYPE]*
	     Specify the file type to export. Possible values: svg, png, ps,
	     eps, pdf, emf, wmf and every file type for which an export exten-
	     sion exists. It is possible to export more than one file type at a
	     time.

	     Note that PostScript does not support transparency, so any trans-
	     parent objects in the original SVG will be automatically raster-
	     ized. Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export area
	     is page; you can set it to drawing by --export-area-drawing.

	     Note that PDF format preserves the transparency in the original
	     SVG.

     --export-extension=EXTENSION-ID
	     Allows to specify an output extension that will be used for export-
	     ing, which is especially relevant if there is more than one export
	     option for a given file type. If set, the file extension in --ex-
	     port-filename and --export-type may be omitted. Additionally, if
	     set, only one file type may be given in --export-type.

     -C, --export-area-page
	     In SVG, PNG, PDF, PS exported area is the page. This is the default
	     for SVG, PNG, PDF, and PS, so you don't need to specify this unless
	     you are using --export-id to export a specific object. For EPS this
	     option is currently not supported.

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

     -a x0:y0:x1:y1, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
	     In PNG export, set the exported area of the document, specified in
	     px (1/96 in). The default is to export the entire document page.
	     The point (0,0) is the lower-left corner.

     --export-area-snap
	     For PNG export, snap the export area outwards to the nearest inte-
	     ger px values. If you are using the default export resolution of 96
	     dpi and your graphics are pixel-snapped to minimize antialiasing,
	     this switch allows you to preserve this alignment even if you are
	     exporting some object's bounding box (with --export-id or --ex-
	     port-area-drawing) which is itself not pixel-aligned.

     -d DPI, --export-dpi=DPI
	     The resolution used for PNG export.  It is also used for fallback
	     rasterization of filtered objects when exporting to PS, EPS, or PDF
	     (unless you specify --export-ignore-filters to suppress rasteriza-
	     tion). The default is 96 dpi, which corresponds to 1 SVG user unit
	     (px, also called "user unit") exporting to 1 bitmap pixel.  This
	     value overrides the DPI hint if used with --export-use-hints.

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

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

     --export-margin=MARGIN
	     Adds a margin around the exported area. The size of the margin is
	     specified in units of page size (for SVG) or millimeters (for
	     PS/PDF).  The option currently has no effect for other export for-
	     mats.

     -i ID, --export-page=all|n[,a-b]*
	     Exports the selected pages only. If more than one page is specified
	     then the resulting document may contain multiple pages if the for-
	     mat supports it.

	     Value can be a comma separated list of page numbers, or page ranges
	     of two numbers separated by a dash. The keyword 'all' can be used
	     to indicate all pages would be exported.

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

	     If you specify many values with a semicolon separated list of ob-
	     jects, each one will be exported separately. In this case the ex-
	     ported files will be named this way: [input_filename]_[ID].[ex-
	     port_type]

     -j, --export-id-only
	     For PNG, PS, EPS, PDF and plain SVG export, only export the object
	     whose id is given in --export-id. All other objects are hidden and
	     won't show in export even if they overlay the exported object.
	     Without --export-id, this option is ignored.

     -l, --export-plain-svg
	     Export document(s) to plain SVG format, without sodipodi: or
	     inkscape: namespaces and without RDF metadata. Use the --ex-
	     port-filename option to specify the filename.

     --export-png-color-mode=COLORMODE
	     Set the color mode (bit depth and color type) for exported bitmaps
	     (Gray_1/Gray_2/Gray_4/Gray_8/Gray_16/RGB_8/RGB_16/GrayAlpha_8/Gray-
	     Alpha_16/RGBA_8/RGBA_16)

     --export-png-compression=LEVEL
	     Set the compression level for PNG export (0 to 9); default is 6.

     --export-png-antialias=LEVEL
	     Set the antialiasing level for PNG export (0 to 3); default is 2.

     --export-png-use-dithering=false|true
	     Forces dithering or disables it (the Inkscape build must support
	     dithering for this).

     --export-ps-level=LEVEL
	     Set language version for PS and EPS export. PostScript level 2 or 3
	     is supported. Default is 3.

     --export-pdf-version=VERSION
	     Select the PDF version of the exported PDF file. This option basi-
	     cally exposes the PDF version selector found in the PDF-export dia-
	     log of the GUI. You must provide one of the versions from that
	     combo-box, e.g. "1.4". The default pdf export version is "1.4".

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

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

     --export-ignore-filters
	     Export filtered objects (e.g. those with blur) as vectors, ignoring
	     the filters (for PS, EPS, and PDF export).  By default, all fil-
	     tered objects are rasterized at --export-dpi (default 96 dpi), pre-
	     serving the appearance.

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

		 inkscape -i path231 -t document.svg

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

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

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

     -I, --query-id=OBJECT-ID[,OBJECT-ID]*
	     Set the ID(s) of the object(s) whose dimensions are queried in a
	     comma-separated list. If not set, query options will return the di-
	     mensions of the drawing (i.e. all document objects), not the page
	     or viewbox.

	     If you specify many values with a comma separated list of objects,
	     any geometry query (e.g. --query-x) will return a comma separated
	     list of values corresponding to the list of objects in --query-id.

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

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

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

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

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

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

     --select=OBJECT-ID[,OBJECT-ID]*
	     The --select command will cause objects that have the ID specified
	     to be selected.  You can select many objects width a comma sepa-
	     rated list.  This allows various verbs to act upon them.  To remove
	     all the selections use "--verb=EditDeselect".  The object IDs
	     available are dependent on the document specified to load.

     --actions=ACTION(:ARG)[;ACTION(:ARG)]*
	     Actions are a new method to call functions with an optional single
	     parameter.  To get a list of the action IDs available, use the
	     --action-list command line option.  Eventually all verbs will be
	     replaced by actions.   Temporarily, any verb can be used as an ac-
	     tion (without a parameter).  Note, most verbs require a GUI (even
	     if they don't use it). To close the GUI automatically at the end of
	     processing, use --batch-process.  In addition all export options
	     have matching actions (remove the '--' in front of the option and
	     replace '=' with ':').

	     If only actions are used --batch-process must be used.

	     Export can be forced at any point with the export-do action. This
	     allows one to do multiple exports on a single file.

     --action-list
	     Prints a list of all available actions.

     --actions-file=FILENAME
	     Execute all actions listed in the file. The file contents must be
	     formatted using the syntax of --actions. This option overrides the
	     --actions argument when both are given.

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

     -q, --active-window
	     Instead of launching a new Inkscape process, this will run the com-
	     mand in the most recently focused Inkscape document.

     --display=DISPLAY
	     Sets the X display to use for the Inkscape window.

     --app-id-tag=TAG
	     Creates a unique instance of Inkscape with the application ID
	     'org.inkscape.Inkscape.TAG'.  This is useful to separate the
	     Inkscape instances when running different Inkscape versions or us-
	     ing different preferences files concurrently.

     --batch-process
	     Close GUI after executing all actions or verbs.

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

	     In shell mode Inkscape expects a sequence of actions (or verbs) as
	     input.  They will be processed line by line, that means typically
	     when pressing enter.  It is possible (but not necessary) to put all
	     actions on a single line.

	     This option can be combined with the --active-window parameter, to
	     execute the shell commands in an already opened Inkscape document.

	     The following example opens a file and exports it into two differ-
	     ent formats, then opens another file and exports a single object:

		 file-open:file1.svg; export-type:pdf; export-do; export-type:png; export-do
		 file-open:file2.svg; export-id:rect2; export-id-only; export-filename:rect_only.svg; export-do

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

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

     $HOME/.config/inkscape/fonts/ - fonts.

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

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

     $HOME/.config/inkscape/paint/ - patterns and hatches.

     $HOME/.config/inkscape/palettes/ - palettes.

     $HOME/.config/inkscape/symbols/ - symbol files.

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

     $HOME/.config/inkscape/ui/ - user interface files.

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

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

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

     Open an SVG file in the GUI:

	 inkscape filename.svg

     Export an SVG file into PNG with the default resolution of 96 dpi (one SVG
     user unit translates to one bitmap pixel):

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

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

	 inkscape --export-filename=filename.png -w 600 -h 400 filename.svg

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

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

     Export two different files into four distinct file formats each:

	 inkscape --export-type=png,ps,eps,pdf filename1.svg filename2.svg

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

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

     Same, but use the default 96 dpi resolution, specify the filename, and snap
     the exported area outwards to the nearest whole SVG user unit values (to
     preserve pixel-alignment of objects and thus minimize aliasing):

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

     Convert an Inkscape SVG document to plain SVG:

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

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

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

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

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

     Duplicate the objects with id="path1555" and id="rect835", rotate the du-
     plicates 90 degrees, save SVG, and quit:

	 inkscape --select=path1555,rect835 --actions="duplicate;object-rotate-90-cw" --export-overwrite filename.svg

     Select all objects with ellipse tag, rotate them 30 degrees, save the file,
     and quit.

	 inkscape --actions="select-by-element:ellipse;transform-rotate:30" --export-overwrite filename.svg

     Export the object with the ID MyTriangle with a semi transparent purple
     background to the file triangle_purple.png and with a red background to the
     file triangle_red.png.

	 inkscape --actions="export-id:MyTriangle; export-id-only; export-background:purple; export-background-opacity:0.5;export-filename:triangle_purple.png; export-do; export-background:red; export-background-opacity:1; export-filename:triangle_red.png; export-do" filename.svg

     Read an SVG from standard input (stdin) and export it to PDF format:

	 cat filename.svg | inkscape --pipe --export-filename=filename.pdf

     Export an SVG to PNG format and write it to standard output (stdout), then
     convert it to JPG format with ImageMagick's convert program:

	 inkscape --export-type=png --export-filename=- filename.svg | convert - filename.jpg

     Same as above, but also reading from a pipe (--export-filename can be omit-
     ted in this case)

	 cat filename.svg | inkscape --pipe --export-type=png | convert - filename.jpg

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     INKSCAPE_PROFILE_DIR
	     Set a custom location for the user profile directory.

     INKSCAPE_DATADIR
	     Set a custom location for the Inkscape data directory (e.g. $PRE-
	     FIX/share if Inkscape's shared files are in $PRE-
	     FIX/share/inkscape).

     INKSCAPE_LOCALEDIR
	     Set a custom location for the translation catalog.

     For more details see also <http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Environ-
     ment_variables>

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

SEE ALSO
     potrace, cairo, rsvg, batik, ghostscript, pstoedit.

     SVG compliance test suite: <https://www.w3.org/Graph-
     ics/SVG/WG/wiki/Test_Suite_Overview>

     SVG validator: <https://validator.w3.org/>

     Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification W3C Recommendation 16 Au-
     gust 2011 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/>

     Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 Specification W3C Working Draft 13 April
     2005 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/>

     Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 Specification W3C Candidate Recommendation
     15 September 2016 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG2/>

     Document Object Model (DOM): Level 2 Core W3C Recommendation 13 November
     2000 <https://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/>

GUI NOTES
     To learn Inkscape's GUI operation, read the manual in Help > Inkscape man-
     ual, and the tutorials in Help > Tutorials.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     Maximilian Albert, Joshua A. Andler, Tavmjong Bah, Pierre Barbry-Blot,
     Jean-FranA<section>ois Barraud, Campbell Barton, Bill Baxter, John Beard,
     John Bintz, Arpad Biro, Nicholas Bishop, Joshua L. Blocher, Hanno
     BA<paragraph>ck, Tomasz Boczkowski, Adrian Boguszewski, Henrik Bohre, Bold-
     ewyn, Daniel Boles, Daniel Borgmann, Bastien Bouclet, Hans Breuer, Gustav
     Broberg, Christopher Brown, Marcus Brubaker, Luca Bruno, Brynn, Nicu Bu-
     culei, Bulia Byak, Pierre Caclin, Ian Caldwell, Gail Carmichael, Ed Catmur,
     Chema Celorio, Jabiertxo Arraiza Cenoz, Johan Ceuppens, Zbigniew Chyla,
     Alexander Clausen, John Cliff, Kees Cook, Ben Cromwell, Jon Cruz,
     AurA(C)lie De-Cooman, Kris De Gussem, Milosz Derezynski, Daniel DAaz, Bruno
     Dilly, Larry Doolittle, Nicolas Dufour, Tim Dwyer, Maxim V. Dziumanenko,
     Moritz Eberl, Johan Engelen, Miklos Erdelyi, Ulf Erikson, NoA(C) Falzon,
     Sebastian Faubel, Frank Felfe, Andrew Fitzsimon, Edward Flick, Marcin Flo-
     ryan, Fred, Ben Fowler, Cedric Gemy, Steren Giannini, Olivier Gondouin, Ted
     Gould, Toine de Greef, Michael Grosberg, Bryce Harrington, Dale Harvey,
     AurA(C)lio Adnauer Heckert, RenA(C) de Hesselle, Carl Hetherington, Jos
     Hirth, Hannes Hochreiner, Thomas Holder, Joel Holdsworth, Christoffer Holm-
     stedt, Alan Horkan, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Richard Hughes, Nathan Hurst, in-
     ductiveload, Thomas Ingham, Jean-Olivier Irisson, Bob Jamison, Ted
     Janeczko, Marc Jeanmougin, jEsuSdA, Lauris Kaplinski, Lynn Kerby, Niko Ki-
     irala, James Kilfiger, Nikita Kitaev, Jason Kivlighn, Adrian Knoth,
     Krzysztof KosiAski, Petr Kovar, Michael Kowalski, BenoA(R)t Lavorata, Alex
     Leone, Julien Leray, Raph Levien, Diederik van Lierop, Nicklas Lindgren,
     Vitaly Lipatov, Ivan Louette, Fernando Lucchesi Bastos Jurema, Pierre-An-
     toine Marc, Aurel-AimA(C) Marmion, Colin Marquardt, Craig Marshall, Ivan
     MasA!r, Dmitry G. Mastrukov, David Mathog, Matiphas, Patrick McDermott,
     Michael Meeks, Federico Mena, MenTaLguY, Aubanel Monnier, Vincent Montagne,
     Tim Mooney, Derek P. Moore, Chris Morgan, Peter Moulder, JA<paragraph>rg
     MA1/4ller, Yukihiro Nakai, Victor Navez, Jonathan Neuhauser, Christian Neu-
     mair, Nick, Andreas Nilsson, Mitsuru Oka, VinAcius dos Santos Oliveira,
     Martin Owens, PBS, Alvin Penner, Matthew Petroff, Jon Phillips, Zdenko
     Podobny, Alexandre Prokoudine, Jean-RenA(C) Reinhard, Alexey Remizov, Fred-
     eric Rodrigo, Hugo Rodrigues, Jean Franco Amoni RodrAguez, Juarez Rudsatz,
     Xavier Conde Rueda, Felipe CorrAaa da Silva Sanches, Christian Schaller,
     Marco Scholten, Tom von Schwerdtner, Markus Schwienbacher, Danilo A egan,
     Abhishek Sharma, Tim Sheridan, Shivaken, RafaA Siejakowski, Michael Sloan,
     John Smith, Sandra Snan, BoA!tjan A petiA, Aaron Spike, Kaushik Sridharan,
     Ralf Stephan, Dariusz Stojek, Patrick Storz, Martin Sucha, Sushant A.A.,
     ~suv, Pat Suwalski, Adib Taraben, Parcly Taxel, Hugh Tebby, Jonas Termeau,
     David Turner, Andre Twupack, Aleksandar UroA!eviA, Alex Valavanis, Joakim
     Verona, Lucas Vieites, Daniel Wagenaar, Liam P. White, Sebastian WA1/4st,
     Michael Wybrow, Gellule Xg, Daniel Yacob, Masatake Yamato, David Yip, Wen-
     Wei Kao

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
     Copyright (C) 1999-2023 by Authors.

     Inkscape is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
     the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.

1.4.3				   2026-08-04			     INKSCAPE(1)

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