Hello,

I use inkscape to make figures for scientific papers. Every once in awhile I get problems like the following, and I have not been able to resolve them.

I have a simple figure (attached in .svg and .pdf) containing only text and lines with arrows. It looks perfect in Inkscape, but on export the arrows are all lengthened.

From similar posts (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12921&p=48861&hilit=pdf+export#p48861), I tried converting the arrows to path, moving them slightly, moving them back, and re-saving. This had no effect. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hi.

To me these look identical.
To verify I opened the PDF file in Inkscape and overlaid a transparent version of the arrows (and text) from the SVG file - they match completely.
No visible difference in the length (Or positions) of the arrows.

Could this be an issue with your PDF viewer? I use Acrobat reader XI Ver 11.0.0.

RGDS Ragnar

Mijau

I tested pdf version with Adobe Reader 10.1.4 and Foxit Reader 5.4.3.
In both cases, the lines of the arrows are exended in back way (tail) for few milimeters and touch the text

Ponny

Hi.

Hmm... This is strange. On my machines they look identical, see screen-dump from my win7 machine.


Click image for larger version.

Anyone else got different results?

RGDS Ragnar

I can reproduce the OP's problem

http://www.imageno.com/qk75j0v8k9wypic.html

the pdf viewer is Evince.

Selecting an arrow in Inkscape and the boundary extends beyond the visible end.

but I can not reproduce that effect here.

I can reproduce the problem using Inkscape 0.48.1 and Adobe Reader current version, on Windows 7, 64-bit. And I think I've found the problem. It might not solve the problem for the other topics, but it does for this one (at least it does for me).

Open the SVG and select an arrow with the Node tool. Notice how it only has one node with one handle extended. It's not possible to have a path with only one node, at least not in Inkscape. [Oorrr....I should qualify that. It's not possible to draw a single node. However, I have created a line with a single node by deleting everything else, from a large, complex path. I think the times when that has happened to me, was probably a bug, but it only happens in large, complex files. I can't recreate it in a simple file, and it's not considered polite to submit a large file on a bug report. So I've never reported it. So it is possible with Inkscape, but I don't think it's supposed to be possible.] Since I doubt that was how these arrows would have been created (by deleting nodes from a larger complex path) at least the arrows in this file must have originated somewhere else.

Try making the path for the arrows with 2 nodes. I've corrected the problem by simply double-clicking on the arrow's line with the Node tool (which adds a new node) (it will add a smooth node). That might not be the best way to do it, but it does work, and produces a correct, or at least correct looking PDF (using my above system apps). The reason I think it might not be the best way, is because simply adding a node actually creates a flattened closed path (drag a node to see it). For myself, I would just draw new lines with either the Pen/Bezier or Pecil/Freehand tool -- a 2-node open path (and add new arrow head marker). But as I said, it does work to simply add a new node.

ragstian and rich2005, I noticed that too. I think it has something to do with the 1-node path. And actually was my clue to select with the Node tool, to see why

Hi brynn

I am impressed! It's so obvious when you know what to look for!

Proves me right in my saying: "No matter how smart you are - it takes four years to get four years of experience."

RGDS Ragnar

Thanks everyone, especially Brynn. Your solution worked. In addition, it corrected another little eccentricity, which is that the pdf version showed rounded ends (opposite end of the arrows on the line) while inkscape showed squared off ends. Adding a node on the line removed it. You can see this too in Rich2005's image.

In the future I'll have to try one of the alternative methods. Thanks Brynn!

You're welcome, I'm glad it worked