Would like it if someone could explain to me how I could do this effect in inkscape.

Is it even possible?

I don't want to copy a bunch of circles all over. I want the effect as if I were using a can of spray paint.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

There's no simple way to do this with Inkscape. You may want to use a raster editor instead.

Inkscape's Spray tool isn't what most people think it might be. I think the closest thing to what you want would probably be draw the object or paths, and blur them. There's a filter (Filters menu > Scatter > Air Spray) but it only has one spray. It's not configurable, like use smaller dots, or spread them out more. Oh, I lied!

Normally I wouldn't post all these steps without knowing the skill level of the person asking. But I so very quickly altered the Air Spray filter to look so very convincingly like a typical spray tool, I just have to share it, lol!

To get the filter looking like you want, draw something like this:



It's made with the Star tool (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... Stars.html). 9 corners, spoke ratio 0.300, rounded 0.27. I think sharp spokes would work just as well, but the spoke ratio does need to be adjusted, or your spray will have a hole in the middle.

Next go to Filters menu > Scatter > Air spray. Now it should look something like this:



Now make sure it's selected, and go to Filters menu > Filters Editor.
1 - Click on Morphology to highlight it. Look below at the Effect Parameters area. It's set on Dilate. Move that slider all the way to the left (value of 0.0)
2 - Click on Gaussian Blur to highlight. Look below at Effect Parameters. Move that slider to the right. I see that a value around 10 to 15 seems to look like what I think of as a spray tool.

Here's my spray base:



Look at the left side of the Filters Editor, and there should be a checkmark next to a filter there. Double click on it, and change the name to something you will remember.

Now there are a couple of different ways to go from here. You could select it, and use the spray tool to spray copies of it. But I find it difficult to use. It's a fairly new tool though, and may need some more work. What I would do is Pattern Along Path. After you've made the new filter:

1 - Select the new spray/star and Copy.
2 - Draw the path which you want to be sprayed. Leave it selected.
3 - Path menu > Path Effects Editor > Pattern Along Path > Add
4 - In the Current Effects area:
---a. Change "Pattern Copies" to "Repeated, Stretched"
---b. Change "Spacing" to -20.00 (I found that to be about right for my 65 px wide star. You may need to adjust for however wide your star is.)
---c. Click the Paste icon (You'll see the path change to a string of stars, which should be significantly overlapped. Even though you copied it with a filter applied, the filter won't get pasted in with the pattern.)
5 - Now go back to the Filters Editor, and with the star chain selected, put a check beside your new filter name. Now the filter will be applied to the chain of stars, and should look like a sprayed path. Here's mine:



So that was some pretty advanced stuff. If you're a new Inkscape user, there may be some details that I didn't mention, because of time considerations. Just be sure to keep the manual open (Help menu > Inkscape manual) and don't hesitate to use it. But if you get stuck, just post a reply and ask the question. I, or someone, will answer it

Couple of notes. This would not be very well suited for heavy use in one file. Filters notoriously bloat a file, and in a complex drawing will slow Inkscape to a crawl. Note that Blur is also a filter. And it may well be simpler to just use Blur. But I don't think it will necessarily give an accurate spray paint appearance. But you can certainly test -- like try different stroke widths before you blur.

Also, others may come along with better techniques

I don't get 1-4. Why don't you use directly ? (or )

> Click on Morphology to highlight it. Look below at the Effect Parameters area. It's set on Dilate. Move that slider all the way to the left (value of 0.0)

Then you'd probably want to completely remove the morphology filter (and the blend) , the filter will be faster.

a basic line (with a gradient applied on it) w/o a (tweaked) airspray filter

Well v1nce, you're the expert on filters. I'm lucky if I can use them at all. So for me, it was a coup, to have figured that out. But if you have a better way, I'm sure the op will appreciate it.

brynn wrote:Well v1nce, you're the expert on filters. I'm lucky if I can use them at all. So for me, it was a coup, to have figured that out. But if you have a better way, I'm sure the op will appreciate it.

It's not much about filters but about steps 1-4, if I understand well you're repeating a star shaped pattern along a path.
If the steps are sufficiently close then your path will (a bit) look like a .
And after you apply a filter (this particular filter) then they will look very close.

So it's easier to draw a shape the way you're comfortable with ( , , ...) then applying the filter rather than spraying once then try to move the spray along a path.

It's less physically correct but much more convenient.