hello, very new to inskape. im trying to teach myself how to use it in case of any home based projects i ever have to do (use illustrator at work)

i cant seem to set the pen tool to how i want it (black line, .3pt thick, and no fill)
seem to be stuck on calligraphy setting or something similar. can change it once drawn but its annoying me


i already uninstalled and reinstalled the application but its doing the same


p.s. i am also fairly new to windows, so if its a case of deleting a prefs file in windows 7, i might need a pointer on how to do this also.


thanks in advance for any help.

Welcome aboard, infinitebloop!

Cute name
Ok, for some reason, when I first read your message, I thought you meant a pen that's used with tablets. But I'm pretty sure you mean Inkscape's Pen tool , right? And also, you're not using the Calligraphy tool , right?

So as long as that's the scenario, then there are a couple of ways to go about it. One is to go to Inkscape Preferences > Tools > Pen. Select "This tool's own style". Then draw a line and set the width and color that you want. Then go back to Inks Prefs and click the bar that says "Take from selection". Now, every time you use the Pen tool, it will draw the kind of line you want. If you ever need a different kind of line, you'll have to change the style on the canvas. But then the next time you use the Pen tool, if will draw the style you set in Inks Prefs, without you having to change it on the canvas.

But, (and this is the other way to do it, potentially) if you ever only draw that kind of line, you could leave the setting in Inks Prefs as "Last used style". The first time you open Inkscape and draw a line, you'll still have to change it to your style, but after that, the pen tool will always draw lines in that style....until you change it. If you have to change the style for some reason, you'll have to change it back to the preferred style before it will again draw your kind of line.

I hope that made sense

thanks for the reply brynn.

it seems to be saving the settings for the freehand drawing tool perfectly, but the bezier pen keeps behaving as if there is a brush applied to it. but i cannot see any mention of brushes in the tool options, could this be what is causing it?

infinitebloop wrote:it seems to be saving the settings for the freehand drawing tool perfectly, but the bezier pen keeps behaving as if there is a brush applied to it. but i cannot see any mention of brushes in the tool options

Of course you can It's the rightmost control in the options, says "Shape" on it Should be set to None.

"...as if there is a brush attached to it."
Hhhm, but Inkscape has no brushes.... Well, if prokoudine's suggestion doesn't work, maybe a sample image would be in order. But I'm thinking he's onto to the problem. This setting is in the tool control bar, along the top of the canvas. (Sorry I missed your reply, my apartment's being painted, and computer disconnected for a few days.)