This is a read-only archive of the inkscapeforum.com site. You can search for info here or post new questions and comments at I want to draw a design approx 1um across, working in nm. How may I set this up? I can find no units smaller than mm - much too large.
Thanks.
Small-scale drawing
Re: Small-scale drawing
Hi.
Start with a page size of what your output size will be - A4 - Letter - A3, Ledger etc.
Then choose a conversion factor which is easy to work with eg. 1 mm = 1 µm
If you were working in real unit your printouts would be very small
.
Good Luck.
Show us the end result. I am curious!
RGDS
Ragnar
Start with a page size of what your output size will be - A4 - Letter - A3, Ledger etc.
Then choose a conversion factor which is easy to work with eg. 1 mm = 1 µm
If you were working in real unit your printouts would be very small
.Good Luck.
Show us the end result. I am curious!
RGDS
Ragnar
Good Luck!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RGDS
Ragnar
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RGDS
Ragnar
Re: Small-scale drawing
So I can't get the program to work in small units than mm?
> If you were working in real unit your printouts would be very small .
I want to work in scaled units - with scaling done by the computer rather than me.
> If you were working in real unit your printouts would be very small
.I want to work in scaled units - with scaling done by the computer rather than me.
-
flamingolady
- Posts: 687
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:40 pm
Re: Small-scale drawing
I'm a little confused here - setting the sizes is really just setting the page size, right?
example - basically you're drawing in measurements of pixels, can't be smaller than a pixel, right?
example - basically you're drawing in measurements of pixels, can't be smaller than a pixel, right?
Re: Small-scale drawing
Units are hardcoded I am afraid you will have to rewrite and recompile Inkscape to get what you want.
But it strikes me that since svg like xml is just a text file, why can't you work entirely in mm and then at the end open the svg in a text editor and change all instances of mm to µm?
If your printer really prints that small (just kidding) I mean to say i your application or hardware or controller whatever it is is expecting µm it doesn't have to know that they were once mm or pixels or inches!
FL, have you noticed - in the selector control bar for example - that measurements are given to the thousandth of a pixel?
In inkscape's prefs there is actually a setting for numeric precision when writing the svg. Also for how small a number can be and still be nonzero - this can go down to 0.00000000000000000000000000000001 ( that 10^ -32) units although i don't think the interface is quite that precise 
But it strikes me that since svg like xml is just a text file, why can't you work entirely in mm and then at the end open the svg in a text editor and change all instances of mm to µm?
If your printer really prints that small (just kidding) I mean to say i your application or hardware or controller whatever it is is expecting µm it doesn't have to know that they were once mm or pixels or inches!
flamingolady wrote:...basically you're drawing in measurements of pixels, can't be smaller than a pixel, right?
FL, have you noticed - in the selector control bar for example - that measurements are given to the thousandth of a pixel?
In inkscape's prefs there is actually a setting for numeric precision when writing the svg. Also for how small a number can be and still be nonzero - this can go down to 0.00000000000000000000000000000001 ( that 10^ -32) units although i don't think the interface is quite that precise Your mind is what you think it is.
Re: Small-scale drawing
Hi chrisjj
Someone else is barking up the same tree, see https://lwn.net/Articles/529733/
Hopefully user units will be incorporated at one stage. Personally I would like the default unit to be Mickey.
from: http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/07/13/str ... -anything/
Mickey (distance)
One mickey (named after Mickey Mouse) is the length of the smallest detectable movement of a computer mouse. This is about 0.1 mm, but its exact size depends on the equipment used.
As technology have progressed since this was written the highest resolution mice as per today have a resolution of 5600 DPI - approximately 1/220mm per step.
(Razer Mamba Wireless Gaming Laser Mouse - 5600 DPI).
Impressive.
Have fun!
RGDS
Ragnar
I want to work in scaled units - with scaling done by the computer rather than me.
Someone else is barking up the same tree, see https://lwn.net/Articles/529733/
A preview of Inkscape 0.49
Posted Dec 20, 2012 16:31 UTC (Thu) by rleigh (subscriber, #14622) [Link]
I've run into this issue, but for different reasons: designing microfluidic networks at the micron scale using mm sized page sizes. I ran into the resolution limit of inkscape here--rounding and point placement quantisation to whatever inkscape uses internally as its fundamental unit.
It would certainly be nice if one could specify the native unit system and required precision, e.g. µm, nm, mil (1/1000"), 1/16" etc. to n d.p. to be able to work with suitable precision and accuracy for the task at hand.
Hopefully user units will be incorporated at one stage. Personally I would like the default unit to be Mickey.
from: http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/07/13/str ... -anything/
Mickey (distance)
One mickey (named after Mickey Mouse) is the length of the smallest detectable movement of a computer mouse. This is about 0.1 mm, but its exact size depends on the equipment used.
As technology have progressed since this was written the highest resolution mice as per today have a resolution of 5600 DPI - approximately 1/220mm per step.
(Razer Mamba Wireless Gaming Laser Mouse - 5600 DPI).
Impressive.
Have fun!
RGDS
Ragnar
Good Luck!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RGDS
Ragnar
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RGDS
Ragnar
Re: Small-scale drawing
druban wrote:you will have to rewrite and recompile Inkscape to get what you want.
OK, thanks.
druban wrote:why can't you work entirely in mm and then at the end open the svg in a text editor and change all instances of mm to µm?
Thanks for the suggestion.
Re: Small-scale drawing
ragstian wrote:Someone else is barking up the same tree, see https://lwn.net/Articles/529733/Thanks.