Hi bbbb,

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Oh, no worries, we don't treat any problems as trivial -- learning is a process for everyone, and we're here because we like to try to help

Well, for the top-lit, and after looking briefly at the info provided via link, together with my knowledge of Inkscape, I would suggest experimenting until you find what you like. It looks to me like it could be as simple as a 2 color linear gradient, or as complex as a textured filter, or maybe combination of filters. There are many filters these days (and not one labelled "top-lit android icon", lol ) By the description ("tactile, textured, real world material"), even a tree bark texture should work, although admitedly, I don't see any like that in their example.

Note that Inkscape can be prone to crashing when using large or very complex filters (in my experience). Since you're talking about an icon for a phone (very small) you should probably not have any problems. But just a couple of tips -- try not to have a lot of filter experiments in one document, and just save, save, save, as frequently as possible.

Regarding the drop shadow, you said that it is being placed "UNDER" the graphic. I'm not clear what the problem is, because isn't that where you want it? If a verbal description gets complicated, you can always show us a screen shot

thanks for the response, Brynn

Well, if I figure it out I would want to create such a filter so others don't have to mess with it. I experimented some, and I did notice a little infrequent instability with inkscape - hanging a little at weird times. save save save is good advice in any program

as for the drop shadow, I got a nice grey thing, but it was being placed *underneath* the object instead of being mixed with it. I don't remember the settings, but I know I only had one layer, so it didn't seem to be a "bring to front" issue (and I tried that).

btw - I played a little last night and seemed to get some of the diffuse filter thing to work, but it created these weird lines in the object being lit. In passing, I remember coming across someone else having this issue a few days ago, and there seemed to be a simple solution, but I couldn't find the link again.

thanks for the response, Brynn. ok - I was checking if there was a "of course you want to set blah to blah for that", and it sounds like some fiddling around with it is necessary.

If I figure it out I would want to create such a filter so others don't have to mess with it. I experimented some, and I did notice a little infrequent instability with inkscape - hanging a little at weird times. save save save is good advice in any program

as for the drop shadow, I got a nice grey thing, but it was being placed *underneath* the object instead of being mixed with it. I don't remember the settings, but I know I only had one layer, so it didn't seem to be a "bring to front" issue (and I tried that).

btw - I played a little last night and seemed to get some of the diffuse filter thing to work, but it created these weird lines in the object being lit. In passing, I remember coming across someone else having this issue a few days ago, and there seemed to be a simple solution, but I couldn't find the link again.

well, I am playing with info I am learning from http://howto.nicubunu.ro/inkscape_blur_orbs_3d_text/ and I am getting kind of close with some first attempts using the idea of the just the first example there. Will play around a little more.

Oh ok, regarding the drop shadow, in the dialog, you can specify the offset distance, and bring it closer to the object.

Hey Brynn

I wrote up a short note on my experiments with this at

http://nowherenearithaca.blogspot.com/2 ... o-for.html

Feel free to let me know anything I missed, especially if there are some other obvious features of Inkscape I overlooked.