I might end up editing the title of this topic (for potential future readers), because I'm not exactly sure what's going on.

I'm working on an image with lots of layers, paths, subpaths, sublayers, etc; by far the most complex image I've attempted. And I've noticed, as I work along, that I'll select something with either the regular selection tool ( ) or the node tool ( ), that I had worked on previously, when I had set a fill and/or stroke, but which now shows "Unset" in the bottom right corner fill/stroke indicator, and in the Fill/Stroke dialog, the big ? mark is highlighted.

But clearly, the fill and/or stroke has been set, because I can see it, and I can see that it is selected, because the bounding box is showing.

I've also noticed that one can set the fill and/or stroke when an object is selected with the regular selection tool ( ) OR when a path is selected with the node tool ( ). And when an object has been changed to a path, well, that's where I get kind of confused. Because the object which has been changed to a path, can still be selected with the regular selection tool ( ). I guess I'm thinking that the regular selection tool is for selecting and working on objects, and the node tool is for selecting and working on paths. So partly I don't get why a path can be selected as an object....maybe a path is just a different kind of object???

Anyway, what I'm wondering, is if I had set the fill and/or stroke, while some path or object was selected with either the regular or node tool, and I later selected it with the other tool (the one that I was NOT using when I set the fill/stroke), is that what causes the fill/stroke to be shown as "Unset" in the lower right fill/stroke indicator and big ? mark in the Fill and Stroke Dialog? So that in order to see the color code, for example, or alpha value, I have to select it with whatever tool I was using when I originally set the fill/stroke?

If it happens to be more convenient to set the fill/stroke of an object/path while selected with a particular tool, could there be any future consequences? I mean, there must be a reason why one sees the fill/stroke as Unset or big ? mark, even though clearly the fill/stroke HAS been set?

So yeah, that's my question -- why do I see the Unset or big ? mark for the fill/stroke, when clearly they have been set?

Thanks for your help

brynn wrote:maybe a path is just a different kind of object?

That's pretty much correct.

There's no reason why the objects fill is unset unless you're not selecting the object you think you are selecting. When you select it with check what the status bar down the bottom says. Maybe you are selecting a group or a clip.

When an object is assigned a fill or stroke color that info is stored in the xml. It doesn't matter which selector or tool you use, that info will always be the same, so selecting to work with one tool or the other doesn't influence the object properties.

The issue with ? and unset are probably connected with clones. Maybe clones are the different kind of an object you were asking about To influence the color of the clones, the original object must have it unset.

Hhhhmm....
Well I've noticed this many times, and for most of them, that's what I figured out, that it had been grouped with something or combined, or something. But it's been frustrating, and this time, before I posted for help, I made sure there could be no other explanation, that I know of.

And now I have the image open, and looking at the same thing which caused me to finally post a question. I have it selected with the , the status bar says "Group of 1 object in Layer 4", the bottom right corner says the Fill is Unset, and F/S dialog has the big ? highlighted. Now, when I select it with the , it shows the fill, as I expect, as what I'm actually seeing.

Oh, wait a minute -- "Group of 1 object"....how can 1 object be a group? Ok, just for the heck of it, I Ungrouped it. Nothing else shows up with a bounding box, like when I normally ungroup things. Normally, when I ungroup things, each item of the group displays its bounding box. But in this case, no change, just the same bounding box as before I clicked Ungroup. BUT, now the fill shows up in the bottom...OOOPS, make that bottom LEFT corner, and in the Fill and Stroke dialog, as I would expect.

So what does that mean? Is the group of 1 object maybe an object that had once been grouped with something else? If so, why does it require an extra ungrouping, to once again show its fill info? Or....OH, what if it had been grouped with something else, but I deleted the other thing?

Clones? No I've never used clones. Um, OH, I made a linked offset with it. It's the original that the offset came from. Could that explain this?

brynn wrote:"Group of 1 object"....how can 1 object be a group?

A group of 1 may seem odd, but it makes sense in SVG: a group can contain any number of objects.

Is the group of 1 object maybe an object that had once been grouped with something else? If so, why does it require an extra ungrouping, to once again show its fill info? Or....OH, what if it had been grouped with something else, but I deleted the other thing?

Yes, it could be all that's left of what was once a larger group. But you can get a group of 1 in various other ways. In Inkscape 0.46 (but not in older versions) you can create a group of 1 directly: just select an object, and group it (Ctrl+G). Importing SVG files turns layers into groups, so you can easily get a group of 1 (or even a group of 0) that way. Opening some types of non-SVG files can also give you groups of 1, depending on how the conversion to SVG is done. (A PDF file I opened recently gave me a group of 1 object, where the 1 object was itself a group of 1 object, where that object was also a group of 1 object, etc., down to about 7 levels .)

Ok, so now when I see it happening that selecting doesn't show fill/stroke, but I know I set it, because I can see it, and selecting with the other tool does show the fill/stroke, I need to look for the odd "Group of 1", or clone.

Thanks guys. You know, I could never have imagined how much specific detailed info one needs to remember, to use Inkscape. As a novice to graphics, it's been really frustrating trying to figure out the correct order one needs to click the various menu items, tools, dialog buttons. Because I can have all the right buttons figured out, but there might be 3, 4, 5, or sometimes more possible orders they need to be clicked in. Perfect example, gradients.

Well anyway, it's a process, and I could never be doing it on my own. I would've given up loooong ago, if not for the help of this great forum! You guys are the best

microUgly wrote:

Off topic:

sas wrote:

brynn wrote:"Group of 1 object"....how can 1 object be a group?

A group of 1 may seem odd, but it makes sense in SVG: a group can contain any number of objects.

Being able to group one object is essential for my work flow. I'll group a single object before applying a clip to it. Because it's a group I can enter it and objects to the clip at any time without releasing the clip. This allows me to easily build up complex colouring whilst easily keeping colours between the lines.

That's a great tip!