Hi.

I'm a new user to Inkscapeand don't have much experience, beyond the basics, with working with vector graphics.

I'm attempting to create a multi border effect around a logo consisting of the main logo surrounded by a thin white border and then a thicker gold border. From what I've read I should be able to do this by stroking gold and white copies of the logo and then aligning them one on top of the other.

The problem occurs when I try to stroke the white and gold logos. When I select one, say the gold, I am able to fill it with the colour I want no probs. I then go to the "fill" tab and select flat colour and stroke style and it creates a fat black stroke. At this point, I attempt to change the colour but any attempt to deviate from black results in the stroke turning white or transparent, not sure which.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks !

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

I think I understand what you want to do, but I'm not positive. You have a logo, and you want it to have a thin white border, and around that, a thicker gold border? So you have the logo itself, and underneath that is a duplicate of the logo except it's all white, and a little bigger? And under that, another duplicate except it's all gold, and even bigger?

It sounds like you might have either terminology, or the Fill tab and the Stroke Paint tab, mixed up. The Fill tab and Stroke Paint tab look almost identical. If you select Flat color on the Stroke Paint tab, it will give it a black stroke. If you click the button with a big X, it will remove the stroke. (If you do that on the Fill tab, it will remove the fill.) Or if you want the stroke to be the same color as the fill....well, there are probably a few ways to do that. Here's one -- Select the object, switch to the Dropper tool and put it in Pick mode. Place it over the fill color, hold Shift key, and click once. Another way would be to copy the color code from the Fill tab and paste it into the color code on the Stroke Paint tab.

When I select one, say the gold, I am able to fill it with the colour I want no probs. I then go to the "fill" tab and select flat colour and stroke style and it creates a fat black stroke.

Here's why I wonder if you're confused about the terminology. If you've already filled the object with color, you would have no need for the Fill tab. Also, clicking the Stroke Style tab doesn't do anything to the canvas, it just opens that tab. On that tab is where you can adjust the stroke width (if the object has a stroke).

But I'm still not sure if I understand what you're doing. If I'm entirely off base, please let me know, and I, or someone, will try again

Hi Brynn.

Thanks for the response. Yes you understand exactly what I'm trying to do. This is for a vinyl decal that will go on a glass door. The gold border will be in a brushed gold, metallic vinyl and the look we want is of an old fashioned painted sign with a nice painted gold border.

I'm pretty sure Im on top of how the fill/stroke dialogue boxes are SUPPOSED to work. The problem is they're not doing what I ask of them.

So taking the gold logo for example again, it's already filled with gold colour and I now want to stroke it with a wide gold stroke. So with the logo selected I click on the stroke style tab and enter a width for the stroke. Because the default stroke colour is black the logo is now stroked with a wide black stroke. Now if I go to the Stroke Paint dialogue box and enter a code for a different colour, the black stroke disappears and is apparently replaced with a white or transparent one. The bounding box of the selection is still displaced from the logo so it seems there is a stroke there, I just can't see it! And no matter what colour I choose or how I choose it I can't see it.

Not to hijack my own thread but there doesn't seem to be any clear direction anywhere on how to contact admin at this forum. I had difficulties getting the confirmation email to work and was looking for contact info for webmaster or administrators and could find nothing. Eventually the email worked, about a day later, but I'm wondering if the lack of contact info is an oversight or intentional

Thanks

Aah, ok, I understand now
Have you checked the A (alpha) value? It's the bar that has a checkerboard pattern in it. The slider needs to be all the way to the right, and the value 255. Wait, well that couldn't be it, or we wouldn't see the black stroke either. Hhhmmm......

OH!! Are you typing "ff" at the end of the hexcode? The last 2 characters affect the opacity (the alpha value), and if you don't put something in there, Inkscape apparently assumes the value is "00" which is transparent, and doesn't display anything. I can reproduce the problem by removing the last 2 characters.

If that's not it, and unless someone else has an idea, I think we'll need to look at the SVG file. You could attach to your next reply, or upload wherever you want, and give us the link.

Regarding contact info for admin or webmaster, I know how frustrating that is. It's happened to me countless times, and I've sometimes had to google admin names and moderator names until I find some contact info somewhere, anywhere! A couple of times I've found a personal website or blogs of admins or mods, and contacted them that way. I know that our admin recently upgraded the forum software here, and hasn't finished reinstalling all the features. It's possible that contact info is in something that hasn't been reinstalled yet. But I think the truth is that there may in fact not be any way to contact anyone, if you're not registered. The delay with the confirmation email might also be related to the upgrade, if you happened to register while the upgrade was happening (last Sat, Sun, Mon, depending on where you are in the world).

Thanks for letting us know. I apologize for the delay. I'll bring this up in the moderators' forum (which you can't see) and ask if there might be some way to address that issue.

Thanks again Brynn.

Yes the sliders are all where they need to be in order for colour to be visible.

When I get a chance I'll check on the opacity values in the colour code.

Cheers.

Thanks Brynn. Your suggestion was spot on.

When I entered the value of FFCC00 into the stroke colour box, Inkscape completed the code with two more zeroes to render the colour invisible. Probably not many users make this same amateur mistake but it might make more sense for Inkscape to complete the code with FF rather than 00?

In any case I appreciate your help. On to my next question!

Yes, that probably would be a nice detail. I'm glad it worked