I'm new to Inkscape and understand the basics, but am having a difficulty with isolating an object.

I've created a business card w/ a black background. Brought in the logo, white on black background, added text. All good. Background, logo, and text are in 3 different layers. Exported as pdf to have printed. On the proof, the black background doesn't match the black in the logo area. Logo area black is a shade lighter. Tried eyedropper and paint bucket to transfer background black to logo area black. Still 2 different blacks. (They don't appear as different blacks on any monitor).

The logo was created by tracing an image, then carefully refining the path with the node tool. I can copy the logo by selecting all node points but a box remains around it. If I can simply get the logo image isolated, then I can create a layer above the black background, paste in the logo and that should resolve the issue.

I've read through the manual and various sites, watched videos, but still don't see how to isolate just the logo. Tried clip, mask, etc., but still end up with a rectangular area around the logo. It may be a quite a simple answer; I'd be most grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

hmmm first thought.
are the old imported logo still in use? or ?
might be that the imported logo and inkscape dpi dosent match. (some programs are standard set to 75dpi)
try looking in your export settings

another possible quick fix.
select the background, take the hold a left-click and move the mouse a bit over the black in the logo element, thereby getting an "average black" on your background.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Wow, excellent description of the problem! The quickest and easiest way for us to find the problem would be if you can attach the SVG file for us to examine. And in the end, we might have to see it. So if you can provide the SVG file, that would be great! But we can start with questions

So you drew the logo in Inkscape, and it is a vector path. When you select it, there will be a rectangular dotted line around it. That's simply an indication that it's selected, and does not contain any content, or change the object in any way. So that can't be avoided.

OH! Are you on a Mac, by any chance? There's a bug with copy/paste on Macs, that causes copied objects to be converted to raster. That might make it have a rectangle around it, sort of. If you are on a Mac, instead of copy, use Duplicate, and that may well solve the problem.

If not, we need to figure out what this rectangle is that's around it.

You mentioned about a lighter black and a darker black, after you Save As PDF, which don't look different on your screen. You can comfirm whether they are the same using the Dropper tool, or by looking at the color code. With the dropper tool over the area, look at the Inkscape status bar. It will show the code for that color. It should be #000000ff.

Is this a professional printer, where you see the different shades of black? Or are you printing yourself at home?

There may be more questions, if this info hasn't solved the problem, especially if you can't provide the SVG file. But I'll stop here for now

Edit
Oops, sorry nesDk. You posted while I was typing

sure, no harm done.
but yep there's a lot of different scenarios, that can give that effect.

Thanks for your replies, I found a workaround and I'd like to explore this further.

The easy solution was to move the logo + black field into the main black background. Then I used eyedropper & paintbucket to make sure the moved portion color was matched to the background.

Interesting suggestion re dpi of the logo, I'll check that. Also the idea for (eyedropper) click/hold/move mouse to get "average" black. Also good suggestion to check the actual code number for the blacks.

I was thinking the solution was somewhere in clip or mask functions. That didn't get any results, but I did find some preferences settings that might be useful.

Yes, I'm using a Mac; that may cause a few differences, or there may be a bug as you suggested. It's rather late right now, so I'll look into this further tomorrow. The printer (& proof) btw was at Kinkos, their computer couldn't "see" the different blacks either.

Thanks again for your help - I'll get back to this tomorrow.

If you're using copy/paste on a Mac, there is defitely a bug. This could cause the blacks not to match. Try using Duplicate instead. Also see this for other fixes: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php ... or_objects

If you still can't get it to work, you could either attach your SVG file to your next reply (use full editor, not quick reply, look below Submit button for Upload attachment tab) or upload to a host of your choice and give us the link to it. Then we can see the whole picture (as they say) and be able offer better suggestions

Thank you very much for your interest in this discussion, this is all very helpful to me being a novice. This has been a good stepping off point into learning some of the specifics of inkscape. I'll be designing a website soon, so I'm sure to bump onto some more unknowns.

I looked into suggestions posted above: I found my export settings at default 90 dpi. Should this be set to 300? or? I also notice the default dpi for bitmap copy resolution is 90 dpi. I'll assume these values to be normal or "correct" for general use.

The original logo file dpi is not known, it was developed some years ago; application/program I don't recall.

With eyedropper tool, I observe that some black colors are not the same numeric value, so there's one major clue. Another is that the alpha value varies on some objects; another clue. Alpha is basically the "transparency" of an object?

I will differentiate between "copy" and "duplicate". I've used both, but now I know there may be a difference in results.

One thing I need to understand better is the use of "clip" and "mask". That's where I got hung up for a while. I've read the manual and looked at some Youtube videos but need to sit with it and "get it".

I started to experiment with the logo and will post at a later time what I've discovered/learned. I'm not always able to reply the same day as I have a rather full schedule now, but will make time to participate in the dialogue. Thanks again for your help.

Yes, 90 dpi is generally what you should use. Honestly I get quite confused about this setting. While in raster graphics, the dpi affects the quality of the image, in Inkscape it affects the size. I think there are some reasons why one would use the dpi setting in the Export Bitmap dialog to change the size of the export, rather than simply scale the image. But again, I don't understand it very well. But perhaps you can use that info and derive some instruction?

Yes, alpha generally refers to the transparency (in some if not all raster graphics programs, it's called the alpha channel) (why I don't know).

I still can't say whether clipping or masking would solve your problem, because I still don't know the specifics of what's happening in your image. But if you've got manual and tutorials, there's not much else I can offer.

No worries, we'll be here whenever you reply