hi. i've just taken Inkscape for a quick whirlwind test on the windows platform and wanted to make some comments about some limitations i found with the software. please note that my bias is from the perspective of someone who wants to use a vector program for free-hand drawing and encoding it in vector form for resolution independence reasons.

1. line thickness is inconsistent across zoom. basically, when using the calligraphy tool (CTRL-F6) and a wacom tablet i was able to draw some really cool lines and played around with the wiggles and jitters. i was testing the pressure sensitivity of this tool and noticed a few limitations which kindof suck, imho. first, when i draw a line or curve with this tool and then zoom in to draw a second line, the tool creates the second line with a completely different weight with respect to the first line. this means that if i want consistent line width i'm unable to zoom in and out when drawing. this kindof defeats the purpose of line widths or weights in the first place.

2. calligraphy tool always has the same tip shape. i haven't found a simple interface that allows me to change the shape of the pen. it's always just an angled straight edge. it'd be great if it were tunable to a rounded point or curve which could have the angle modified. (this is probably something the software can do, but there is no obvious interface for the feature).

3. certain features simply don't work (seemingly). for example, i selected a previously drawn line and tried to perform the Break Apart operation from the Path menu; and nothing happened. i couldn't tell if it had any effect or not or even if that tool is usable in the mode which i was trying to use it. visual indicators like greying out or disabling operations based on their contextual applicability would go really well to improving the feel of the application for someone who may be just fiddling with the tools as way of experimentation.

4. no eraser. man, this is a BIG one for me. i'd love to draw a curve and arbitrarily run an "eraser" over it and have the software slice up the curve at the points where the eraser hit my curve. this would be a really awesome feature to help tablet users with free-hand types of drawings that aren't based on the preset shapes or require manual curve splicing and intersecting and other complicated manipulations.

5. no history view. unlimited undo via CTRL-Z is cool, but a visual history window with each operation in linear order (ala photoshop history) would be really sweet.

6. bitmap/layer manipulation. i tried to import a bitmap as a background to trace out with the calligraphy tool, but was hampered by two things. first, i was unable to find the bitmap on any of the layers in the drawing. that is, i couldn't push it to the front, to the back, or do anything layer-related to the bitmap; it just remained a permanent back-gound image. second, there was no way to tune the opacity of the bitmap to make it easier to manually trace it out (so that i could see what i'm drawing at 100% opacity and leaving the bitmap at 5-15% opacity).

i'll leave it at that for now. inkscape looks pretty sweet, and i'd love to use it for some of my work, but as it is, my above points (especially 1, 4, and 6) are huge holes in the feature set that prevent inkscape from being a truly useful tool.

Cheers,
Tomasz

p.s. please don't flame if these points have already been mentioned elsewhere and are in development or under discussion by the devs. like i said before, it's a very quick dive into the software with some broad observations about the feature set that to me would really make inkscape kick ass (for users like me).

oops. it looks like i posted in the wrong part of the forums. the forum sections titles should probably be larger and more visually outstanding. i completely missed the white on orange text for the different sections. please move the original post to the appropriate category.

cheers,
Tomasz

Tomasz Konefal wrote:line thickness is inconsistent across zoom.

This is just a bad default. To change it: Shift+Ctrl+P then Tools->Calligraphy and check "Width is in absolute units".

calligraphy tool always has the same tip shape

No, you can make it rounder by increasing the "Caps" value.

i selected a previously drawn line and tried to perform the Break Apart operation from the Path menu; and nothing happened

Break Apart has no effect if there's only one subpath.

Of course, you're right about the lack of feedback that it provides.

no eraser. man, this is a BIG one for me.

Yes, this is a problem, and has been discussed in other threads. You can do it manually with Path -> Difference (Ctrl+-), but this would obviously get a bit tedious after a while.

no history view

Edit -> Undo History (or Shift+Ctrl+H).

first, i was unable to find the bitmap on any of the layers in the drawing

I can't replicate this - it always seems to be imported into the current layer. Which version of Inkscape are you using? If you select the image, the layer box on the status bar should tell you what layer it's in.

there was no way to tune the opacity of the bitmap

Select it, and adjust the master opacity (there's a box marked O at the left end of the status bar, or you can use the Fill and Stroke dialog if you prefer).

I just want to add that in the upcoming 0.46 version there is a thinning option in the tweak tool that works like an eraser

I've also found that sometimes an imported bitmap gets put into its own layer (called [root]). However, it should be selected after importing. Then you can use Shift-PgUp or Shift-PgDn to move it to an existing layer.

For working with layers, I find it very helpful to have the layers dialog open, which you can do with Ctrl-Shift-L (or Layer -> Layers...).

To expound on sas's answer, the Break Apart command is intended to take a path with separated subpaths and break those into their own paths. A calligraphic line is one continuous path, no breaks. That's why Break Apart didn't do anything. However, I do agree that some indication that nothing was done should be shown in the status line.

wow. thanks for all the amazing answers! i just got back in from an incredible day outside so i haven't had a chance to play with inkscape again, but i will check out all your suggestions and let you know how it went!

Tomasz