Inkscape Beginner Tips

Selecting objects

Use the select tool from the Tool Box at the left side of the window. To select objects:

• drag a selection window around the objects (imagine a bounding box around the objects, click at the left bottom corner, hold the mouse down and drag to the upper right corner, release the mouse)
• clicking on an object to select it, hold down shift and click on another object(s) to add it to the selection. The shift button works as a toggle, it either adds or removes an object to/from a selection.

The selection is indicated by the marquee (the dotted line around the selected objects), and a bounding box with resizing handles is shown around the selected objects. Information about the number and type of objects in your selection is given in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.

Object Preferences

All Inkscape tools have their preferences set individually, and as default it remembers the last setting you used. That means that if you dabbled a bit in Inkscape already, tools may act a bit different and your results may look different than what is shown in the tutorial pictures. Some things that typically happen and are relevant to this tutorial are listed below.

Note: you can set the default settings for any tool in the Inkscape Preferences window. For any specific tool this is easily accessible by double clicking on the tool in the toolbox.

The object has a different fill colour

The fill of an object is easily set via the Color Palette at the bottom of the screen. Most objects in this tutorial start with a white fill colour. There are several methods to set the fill colour:

• Select an object and then click with the left mouse button on colour in the Color Palette (my preferred method)

• Drag a colour from the Color Palette onto the object.

• To remove a fill from an object, click on the X in the left bottom corner (or drag that symbol onto the object).

More advanced settings for the fill and stroke can be set though the "Stroke and Fill Dialog".

The object has a different outline or no outline at all

The outline in vector programs is called the stroke. Most objects in this tutorial start with a black stroke. The stroke can be set by:

• Select an object, hold the Shift-key down and then click with the left mouse button on a colour in the Color Palette (my preferred method)
• Or hold the Shift-key down and drag a colour from the Color Palette onto the object.

More advanced settings for the fill and stroke can be set though the "Stroke and Fill Dialog".

Ellipse tool does not draw a full ellipse/circle

The Ellipse Tool  is used, but the resulting circle/ellipse is not shown as a full ellipse/circle. Reset the Ellipse Tool to draw a full circle by clicking on the  button in the Tool Control bar at the top of the screen.

Rectangle tool draws rounded corners