Hello,

I'm using a Motion Tablet PC and I notice when employing the pencil tool,..there are no options to change the width of the line. Why not? This doesn't make any sense.
Even if I choose the type of pencil line......such as ellipse.....there are no sizing options. Why would there be no options for this?

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

There's no option to change the width of a stroke on a path made by the Pencil tool, on the Pencil tool control bar, in any version of Inkscape. All the Pencil/Freehand and Pen/Bezier tools do, is draw bare paths, with a default 1.0 px stroke width. Then you need to change the width of the stroke as needed. There are several ways to do that, and most people eventually develop their own preference for how they do it. Basically, you'll need to go to Object menu > Fill and Stroke > Stroke Style tab > Width.

Let's see....ok, I wasn't sure. I usually switch to the Node tool, after drawing the bare or default paths, if I need to adjust anything. But I see that it IS possible to adjust the width without switching to the Node tool, and while the Pencil (or whatever tool) is still engaged.

Depending on how you have Inkscape Preferences set up, once you change the width of a stroke, then the next thing you draw with the tool that drew that path, will also be that wide. Or you can change that behavior in Inks Prefs, so that the Pencil tool (or whatever) always draws in some certain style (stroke color, width, fill, opacity, etc.). It's fairly self explanatory, but if you need help, please feel free to post again

Also, may I suggest the instructional materials listed in my forum signature. Sometimes you may be able to find answers on your own, although we'll be here to help if you can't find the answers

Thanks for the tips,..but that doesn't work when I use the pencil tool set at the ellipse characteristic. The pencil tool when used as an ellipse shape seems to only allow a certain set width of line. I like the ellipse shape the best when using the pencil tool,..BUT I would like it about 2pts smaller overall. Where do I adjust that?

Ok yes, I just realized that from your other topic. After you draw the line, open Path menu > Path Effects Editor. Look in the Current Effect area for the Width value. That allows you to quickly adjust the width.

I'm not sure if you've tried the Calligraphy tool, that I mentioned in the other topic. But it might be an alternative, and does allow for adjusting the width on the control bar. However, it doesn't have the ellipse mode. ....Well, you can change the nib shape, but it's not exactly the same as the Pattern Along Path like with the Pencil tool.

Anyway, I hope that works for you

Thanks Brynn.....I understand what you're saying. I appreciate your time and explanations. I think I will just have to wait a little longer again for updates to this program and see how it develops in the coming years before I can use it. It's a nice program,..but just not quite there for what i need it to do.

You had me excited when I saw that I could change the width of the ellipse path,...but after changing it down to a smaller size,..I could never get the darn thing to save that size as a default setting. Would be cool to have a button (option) that allows you to simply save the settings you just applied as a default for that particular tool.

I'm aware of the preferences that allow you to save the last used tool settings,....but it doesn't seem to apply for the pencil....as it does not work.

Same thing with the document dimensions....I continue to have to open up the properties and change the doc to landscape EVERY time I start up Inkscape. It will not remember that layout or allow me to save it as a template or default.

You'll have to make a custom default doc to have it open every time at a certain size.

It does apply the Pencil to set a certain path width, but it only works for the regular mode, and set to Shape: none. As I said before, the ellipse shape for the Pencil tool is not a regular kind of path. Technically, it's a pattern applied to a path. You'll have to change that every time as well. Unless maybe someone else knows how to change it in the code or something, or maybe preferences.xml file.

Let us know if you need instructions for making a custom default doc

might be a bit late for this one but...

make a small dot using the circle , get up close and personal and turn into a path, drag left and right so you get a long thin elipse. flatten elipse to your requirements and fill .
copy to clipboard.
select pencil and from dropdown pick from clipboard instead of elipse,
you need to save somewhere useful for use again.