Sorry to ask about what should be 2 simple matters.

I want to create a floorplan, where in this example the outmost border is 12.68m x 6.8m, inside of which, for simplicity, are a number of rectangular rooms of specified dimensions.

I first thought of what measurement units to use in coordinate space, for eventual printing of the drawing onto A4 or A3 paper. Many years ago I used different software and found 'cm' the easiest for laying out floorplans, and so thought to set the System Units to 'cm' (especially as I read metres not defined in SVG) - does this setting seem optimal for this purpose, or are there reasons for choosing another metric unit ?
I see Inkscape places an A4 outline in the canvas, and clearly a 12x6metre box will far overlap the A4 outline. Is there some way of later 'transforming' the finished drawing of 12x6m size 'print' on A4 paper ?

2nd Problem: am having problem Creating various shapes, like Rectangles, Ellipses. When I select the Rectangle tool, I can lwft-click on a postion, hold left mouse btn down, drag mouse to approx other corner, and when I let go, I see a dotted rectangle with a tiny corlce in top right corner, tiny squares in tope left & bottom right corners. Problem is, if I then click somewhere else in the canvas, my rectangle disappears !!!. Same happens if I had selected the Ellipse tool. Although I do not want to draw a rectangle using the 'Draw Freehand Lines' tool - just to see if it worked, I was able to draw freehand lines. The Spiral tool and Bezier Curve also worked. If I create a rectangle, then pick the Selector tool (top one) I then see 8 'handles' on the rectangle outline, and can alter the size using any of the handles.... but when I then just click anywhere in the canvas my object disappears again.

Grateful if someone can tell me what I am doing wrong.

I have the ZIP version of 0.48.1 -i.e run directly from its unziped directory in Windows 7

Hi paul481,
For the first problem, yes. Document Properties > Page tab > Page Size > Orientation > Resize page to content. You can also remove the page border at the bottom of the same Doc Props page. Although keep in mind that if you end up drawing outside the border, the portions outside the border might not be visible, depending on how you end up using the image.

I'm not familiar with drawing floor plans or drafting or anything like that, so I have no idea about optimum units of measure. Just whatever is used by the industry should be fine, it seems to me.

For the 2nd problem, it sounds like your Ellipses and Rectangles are transparent. This might happen if you have them set to draw in whatever style you used last, and that happens to have been transparent. Here's how you can fix it. Open the Fill and Stroke dialog (Object menu), and then draw something with those tools. Before you deselect it, look and see if it is transparent (the A slider would be either all the way to the left, or close to it)(and the number value would be 0 or close to it). If that's the case, just slide the slider over to the right. Do this for both the Fill tab and the Stroke Paint tab.

There could be other reasons why nothing shows up when you draw it....such as you're trying to draw on a hidden layer. So let us know what you learn from the F/S dialog, and we'll go from there (if that doesn't solve the problem).

brynn wrote:Hi paul481,
For the first problem, yes. Document Properties > Page tab > Page Size > Orientation > Resize page to content. You can also remove the page border at the bottom of the same Doc Props page. Although keep in mind that if you end up drawing outside the border, the portions outside the border might not be visible, depending on how you end up using the image.

I'm not familiar with drawing floor plans or drafting or anything like that, so I have no idea about optimum units of measure. Just whatever is used by the industry should be fine, it seems to me.

For the 2nd problem, it sounds like your Ellipses and Rectangles are transparent. This might happen if you have them set to draw in whatever style you used last, and that happens to have been transparent. Here's how you can fix it. Open the Fill and Stroke dialog (Object menu), and then draw something with those tools. Before you deselect it, look and see if it is transparent (the A slider would be either all the way to the left, or close to it)(and the number value would be 0 or close to it). If that's the case, just slide the slider over to the right. Do this for both the Fill tab and the Stroke Paint tab.

There could be other reasons why nothing shows up when you draw it....such as you're trying to draw on a hidden layer. So let us know what you learn from the F/S dialog, and we'll go from there (if that doesn't solve the problem).

Thanks for offer to help Brynn
I had set the Units to cm as a first step in Document Properties, but am now thinking I may be better trying using metres (even though pgm Help says non defined in SVG spec), as I see the initially very sparse ticks in the Ruler, can be restored dense by Zooming Out x10. - but now, the A4 outline and original objects a tiny speck ! - which is why I first tried Units set to cm, as not sure I understand the Concepts of Ruler Units, drawing space, and then being able to output a drawing to print on A4 or A3 paper.
You mention industry standards. I haven't used a vector drawing editor for many years, not in related industry, so I don't think that matters much, only consideration is ease of accurately drawing my floorplan and being able to print it, say to PDF, where I can email it to a pc with a printer.

re. 2nd problem of rectangles & elipses not showing up. For all the object shapes I created, and the rectangle I try to create, with the focus on the Selection tool, the F&S window shows Opacity 100% (slider far right), Blur 0% - for all 3tabs Fill, Stroke Point, Stroke Style. I notice in 'Stroke style' the 'Width' default is zero - even for objects I created that I CAN see; nevertheless, I clicked the uparrow and got 0.1cm - but still no success with Rectangles. - its like after doing the Create Rectangle action, I am missing some essential UI to Confirm I want it Creating - yet this unknown extra step not required to Create Spirals, Curves. - what else can it be ?

From memory the vector draw program I used many years ago has a 'Pen Property' window, where although having sensible default, you could pick any of Stroke width from icons v. thin to thick, colour, and maybe transparency. Is the Inkscape F$S 'Width' the way to define the thickness of lines ?

As I have only just started using Inkscape, only used things in the File, Edit, View menus, I assume most properties are still on a sensible default, I have only Layer 1

During the Create Rectangle I notice that immediately after clking to mark the initial corner, then dragging to mark opposite corner, I notice that the line above the top Ruler shows 'Change:' W: xx.00 H: yy.yy Rx: zero, Ry: zero - what are Rx & Ry ?
When I then clk in another part of draw space, my rectangle disappears - but the same line that previously showed 'Change...' now shows 'New:' W: xx.00 H: yy.yy Rx: zero, Ry: zero. --inplication the object is there but masked.
If I repeat in another area and during Change: I alter Rx, Ry to 0.2cm my object still disappears after leftclking in drawspace
If I rightclick - I see option to Undo Create, Copy, Paste. If I choose Copy>Paste, I can create another ldentical sized dashed-line box elsewhere - but that also become invisible after a leftclick - all this implies the item still exists, but not shown. I looked in tavmjong manual under 'Masking' - it says any masked object is shown "masked" in status bar. But I have just started, not advanced to masking.

Is there a function for listing all the objects and their properties in a drawing ? - if so, even if my rectangle or ellipse is invisible, if created, it will be listed by the Object Listing function - and then I can check if any of its properties look wrong.

I have just noticed that during the Create Rectangle - after mouse drag to define approx size/position, the 'Status Bar' at bottom of screen says 'Stroke: Unset' If I select the successful Spiral - Status Bar 'Stroke: is a solid black bar. Maybe this is the key ?

BTW, I noticed a curious display effect when selecting menus: menu labels normally show black text on light grey background - but when I hover the mouse over a menu selection, it changes to white text on light grey background - quite difficult to read. Think this is a minor program related problem (either Inkscape, or my display driver - except dont have this prob with other programs) and nothing to do with rectangles not showing. Remember my system is Windows 7 and I installed Inkscape from the file inkscape-0.48.1-2-win32.7z

The fact other Object types DO show, and only Rectangles/Ellipses don't, is most curious, and hopefully, should narrow scope of troubleshooting.

Am I the only user to report this problem ?

Re. User Units - If I do set to Meters in Document Properties (where the A4 outline is a tiny speck) after making my 12x6m floorplan using the direct metre scale, how do I Print that to A4 PDF ? (I successfully printed a trial A4/PDF where the trial objects in native cm scale were inside the A4 outline).

Grateful for a solution to this problem asap.

brynn wrote:Hi paul481,

.....There could be other reasons why nothing shows up when you draw it....such as you're trying to draw on a hidden layer. So let us know what you learn from the F/S dialog, and we'll go from there (if that doesn't solve the problem).

Further to my earlier reply, I have seen (by dblclk in 'Stroke' in Took Controls Bar) in Inkscape Preferences possibly relevant items like Pencil, Pen - various shape objects, that have a brief property listing. Most seem to be 'Unset' - do I need to alter Inkscape's default 'Preferences' to make Rectangles & Ellipses visible ?

Now done more digging in 'Inkscape Preferences' the Rectangle settings are indeed reason I saw no rectangle. I found by altering from 'Lastused.. to 'This tool's own style', then clicking on the long 'Take from Selection' bar, the Stroke moved from Unset to 1.28.
I then tried another Rectangle Create and it works - except it is filled blue and with unwanted rounded corners. By default I want unfilled, and strict rectangle. I tried clcking the long bar again in Prefs, but the Fill/Stroke remain unaltered.

I can see that such custom rectangle styles can be useful when constructing certain types of walls, doors etc, but in general, I want unfilled, sharp corners. How do I alter the rectangle default to that ?

Another curious thing: I looked at Prefs Spiral (which has always worked ok) and see Spirals & Beziers have 'This tools own style', Fill&Stroke UNSET !!! Yet, I can create a visible spiral ! Surely this is not consistant or correct behaviour ?

Pencil & Pen are also set to 'This tools own style', Fill&Stroke UNSET - implying invisible by default ?

Keen to read explanations

Oh my goodness, all of this seems like strange behavior for a fresh installation. Although I remember that you're using the 7z package, it shouldn't be any different from a regular installation. As far as I understand, it should be no different!

Honestly, I don't remember what are all the default settings. I do remember that the Star tool draws yellow and partially transparent by default, and that the rectangle and ellipse were also partially transparent, one blue I think, and the other red. I think they all have strokes by default. Oh, and the Spiral might have had a green fill.

Well, for your rectangle and ellipse, you can change the tool's style. Draw a rectangle (you did say that you finally got a visible one drawn?) and edit to your desired style -- i.e. - add a stroke and remove the fill (you can do it from Fill and Stroke dialog, or in bottom left corner of window and color palette). Then while it's still selected, go back to Inkscape Prefs and click "Take from selection".

If you'll look on the tool control bar with the Rectangle tool and a newly drawn rectangle selected, click the button on the far right, and it will make the corners sharp. (You could also drag the tiny circle handle straight upwards until it stops.)

Again, I don't know why everything is showing Fill and/or Stroke as "Unset", or default stroke width as zero, but you could set them all, just to be sure they continue drawing as you expect. But I'm thinking there's something funky with that 7z file, certainly as far as the default settings. I know you have particular reasons for wanting the zipped package, but I wonder if you might make an exception, and use the EXE installer, in this case.

Anyway, it's just an idea.

Now that you've sort of got it working (to draw rectangles), this might not matter, but I was also going to suggest looking at the Opacity slider. Even if the A slider says 255 or fully opaque, the opacity slider (below the Blur) could still be zero (or close to it). But that doesn't make sense for a fresh installation either!

And now moving on the the units of measure. I don't think you can set the ruler to meters, and still see tickmarks by cm. It sounds like you have discovered everything you need to know about "...the Concepts of Ruler Units, drawing space, and then being able to output a drawing to print on A4 or A3 paper." The A4 page border is the page border -- everything you draw inside the border will print on the A4 paper. I think you need to set the ruler units to whatever is comfortable for you for drawing. No matter what units you use on the canvas, the A4 size doesn't change. It's always the same size and everything you draw inside the A4 border is what will print. (Also, don't forget to set zoom back to 100%.)

Yes, the Fill and Stroke dialog > Stroke Style tab, is where you set the width of the strokes.

I'm sorry, I don't know what the Rx and Ry mean or are used for. Maybe a measurement of the rounded corners?

No, masking isn't the reason why the Rectangle and Ellipse weren't showing up. Masking is something else, almost entirely....I think you could have something hidden by a mask. But not in this case. Certainly not in a fresh installation.

Yes, a transparent or hidden layer is another reason why drawing something doesn't show up on the canvas. But when I was thinking that, I didn't realize you had a fresh new installation.

Is there a function for listing all the objects and their properties in a drawing ?

No, but it's a frequently requested feature.

I have just noticed that during the Create Rectangle - after mouse drag to define approx size/position, the 'Status Bar' at bottom of screen says 'Stroke: Unset' If I select the successful Spiral - Status Bar 'Stroke: is a solid black bar. Maybe this is the key ?

The solid black bar means that the stroke is black and fully opaque. If it were partially transparent, you'd see black with some checkerboard. Yes, Unset strokes and fills does sound like the problem, but I still don't understand why that should be the default. I really am thinking there's something funky about the zipped package!

I don't know about the menu color, and highlighted state. I do agree that it's hard to read menu items that are highlighted. But I don't think it makes it difficult to use the menus, because you can clearly see the item before it was highlighted. You know what you're selecting before you select it.

Yes, you're the only person that I've ever seen reporting these problems. But I think most people (Windows users) do use the EXE installer.

While it sounds like there are some very unusual default settings in that zipped packed, I think Inkscape should otherwise perform as expected. You should not have to have gone to Inkscape Prefs to make Rectangles and Ellipses display; you should have been able to draw right from the start.

I'm not sure to whom to report this, but I might end up downloading it myself, to confirm these things, before reporting it. (It's not a matter of disbelieving you, it's just the way bugs are reported and investigated, to have other users reproduce the problem.) If so, I'll let you know what I learn. (I need to get 0.48.1 anyway) Well, hopefully ~suv will see this, but I haven't seen....her? or him? around this weekend. ....although I guess it's Monday now, so maybe soon....

brynn wrote:Oh my goodness, all of this seems like strange behavior for a fresh installation. Although I remember that you're using the 7z package, it shouldn't be any different from a regular installation. As far as I understand, it should be no different!

....although I guess it's Monday now, so maybe soon....

Many thanks for your help. I have not had chance to investigate further since my yesterdays post so nothing new, but I would like to respond on a few points from before:
"Another curious thing: I looked at Prefs Spiral (which has always worked ok) and see Spirals & Beziers have 'This tools own style', Fill&Stroke UNSET !!! Yet, I can create a visible spiral ! Surely this is not consistant or correct behaviour ?"
I am reassured you agree that Stroke = UNSET implies it may prevent a Object Create being visible, and in my case, once SET, the Object Create shows a visible object. So in the case of the Spiral & Bezier Curve objects I am puzzled as to why theyeare both UNSET, yet Creating objects with them are visible - seems illogical. It could be a bug, but as I am not a regular user of Vector Drawing, and a newbie to Inkscape, I feel I shouldn't be reporting bugs that may be wrong - interested to hear if you can reproduce some of the initial behaviour I experienced, and maybe ask the devs to fix any bugs you find.

Re your offtopic. I also like to be able to recreate the same version of an App in event of a HDD crash or whatever, as occasionally I find after 'upgrading' an App, I prefer the previous version, which obviously needs me to archive the original download file. My own system varies a little bit, in that I keep a similar 'installer' type folder that you do, but normally on a separate Partition from C:, and hopefully also backed up onto external HDD like the WD Passport. I also have read in many places the Windows Registry been a big source of Windows problems over the years, and is not actually necessary for an OS (I have a sneaking suspicion it is a user-hostile feature of MS). As a result, whenever I see an App, called 'Portable' i.e can run off a pendrive, providing its documentation states its functionality not noticeably restricted in Portable version, or if, as in Inkscape's case, I am told 7z version behaves the SAME as the traditionally .exe installed version, I prefer the one that doesn't mess with the Registry. As I accidentally discovered, the Inkscape 7z version just runs from its unzipped folder. As in my case, my 'installer folder' contains many subfolders holding the "source" of most Apps I 'install', and as in most cases the 'source' is not the 'runtime', I need to easily distinguish between .exe's in the install folder that really are installers, from those tat are runtime - hence my pref for zipped sources, as it saves me having to remember. I do see from Inkscape dl statistics, exe far more popular than 7z. - but maybe our habit of archiving Install Source files also uncommon.

Re. the menu highlighting. I agree. Does this white text on grey happen on your system too ?

Re. the User Units. What I am trying to find out, is if the Inkscape system allows for the drawing area and user Units to be completely independent from the Print/Export paper sizing - i.e. for the drawing surface not to be constrained or related by the size of the Printer Paper. - I seem to recall when working on 'mini-computers prior to invention of the PC, that professional graphics systems of the day had what they called global coordinate space on which you could create a drawing, where you interacted with that space through a 'ViewPort' - which could could either view the WHOLE coordinate space, or more typically, view just a user defined current working area, and where you viewed the ViewPort on a VDU, and were able to Print any defined area that could again be the whole drawing, or just a type of 'ViewPort' defined area. Do you know if this idea works in Inkscape ?

paul481 wrote:Re. the User Units. What I am trying to find out, is if the Inkscape system allows for the drawing area and user Units to be completely independent from the Print/Export paper sizing - i.e. for the drawing surface not to be constrained or related by the size of the Printer Paper.

No. Keep in mind that Inkscape is not a CAD application, and it lacks several drawing tools/options that would ease technical or architectural drawings (among them, you can't set a drawing scale like in CAD apps).
Alternatives:

1. draw like on paper with a defined drawing scale in mind (e.g. 1:100 -> 1cm corresponds to 1m)
2. draw in SVG user units (px). For printing to scale, create a new drawing, set page size as needed, import the original SVG and scale it (it imports as a group, and can be easily scaled if e.g. a filled and unstroked rectangle at the bottom of the original has known & precise dimensions)

paul481 wrote:Re. the menu highlighting. I agree. Does this white text on grey happen on your system too ?

Bug #630468 “Menu bar items go white when mouse over” (reported issue for the Windows port of Inkscape).

i've had the almost invisible highlighted menu on win7 64bit with latest release 0.48.
can't remember exactly but think i fixed it by changing win7 theme back to classic or something.

"Another curious thing: I looked at Prefs Spiral (which has always worked ok) and see Spirals & Beziers have 'This tools own style', Fill&Stroke UNSET !!! Yet, I can create a visible spiral ! Surely this is not consistant or correct behaviour ?"
I am reassured you agree that Stroke = UNSET implies it may prevent a Object Create being visible, and in my case, once SET, the Object Create shows a visible object. So in the case of the Spiral & Bezier Curve objects I am puzzled as to why theyeare both UNSET, yet Creating objects with them are visible - seems illogical.

I do agree that having Stroke Unset, yet drawing is visible, does not make sense. But my biggest concern is this freshly installed (unzipped) program with such settings. That does not seem right to me. I got distracted the other day, and ran out of time. But I will investigate shortly, and let you know what I find out.

EDIT
Ok, I downloaded and unzipped, but apparently it took all my current preferences and applied them to this new version. I know that I have to delete a file somewhere, but I don't know which one or where it is. Also, once I delete it, I will have to reset all my preferences, correct? Would there be a way to rename it, unzip the 7z version, in order to investigate, and then later name it back, or somehow have it reapply all my preferences and settings, etc.?? (just want to avoid all the resetting of prefs) Oh, Windows 7, 64-bit, btw. Thanks

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I had a deadline to show someone a provisional floorplan so ploughed ahead that evening, initially using what seemed like the more natural 'metres' user unit.
I found the hard way why 'metre' units no use: although I kept the sample shapes previously drawn in that file that had units of cm - and so fitted on the 'A4 paper', before setting units to metres and making my actual floorplan of 6x12 metres, I discovered a) when trying to annotate my drawing, the text, even when set to max 144pt was a tiny speck as if still for A4 paper size, not a 15m rectangle, and b) only previous shapes drawn within the A4 cm space appeared in my Save as PDF - the 6x12m plan nowhere to be seen ! So gave up on metres, created new file using cm, drew floorplan, 'Save as' PDF - where my active drawing area of 6x12cm occupied only half of the 'paper' space, imported the PDF into Foxit PDF reader, used Print to CutePDF with 150% zoom, to create new PDF file with my drawing using ALL of the Print area - printed fine at cybercafe.

So job accomplished - admittedly a cruder initial drawing than I wanted. One area I recall the old Smartdraw made technical drawing faster, were 2 similar features: one called a 'Measurement Tool' - shows distance/angle tween 2 points, another similar for drawing a labelled distance between 2 points like: <----- 15.6cm ---->. I saw in the F&S Dialog you mentioned, under Stroke Style, there are fields to define Start, Mid, End Markers, so used those to achieve same result - but required manual calculation of distance instead of a program feature calculating and annotating it.

I remember SmartDraw allowed you to subsequently Edit Text Objects, by altering the text and attributes - pt, colour etc. Does Inkscape not allow you to do that ?

I guess the minor bug white text on grey will be fixed in next release.

So today I read your helful recommendation on variation of what I did : make initial drawing in px, copy into a 2nd file scaled to Paper Size. Any advantage using px over cm ? This may be better than what I did, in that I can achieve what I asked if possible in earlier post on diff. topic. I wanted to create a 'false origin' for xy coordinate space (for easier referencing of object offsets wrt to drawing origin). Your suggestion allows me to use the Inkscape fixed 0,0 as origin - then later 'Move' that 'origin' to an offset best suited for printing, which I had not thought of.

I realise now and from the few tutorials found, Inkscape was not written with CAD in mind (wasn't obvious to me from Wikipedia and other descriptions) but I am initially very impressed with its very professional UI and features. I think I now understand how to use it for floorplans; just wish I could have seen some introductory tutorials more suited to this kind of use, and of course all Shapes SET, not UNSET by default. And re. an earlier enquiry re. a open shape library of typical floorplan editable objects - I did look in the related open clip art library but no floorplan object set seen.

Re. trialing different versions of Inkscape then getting back to initial state - apart from the Document Properties, isn't there a Inkscape Preferences File to store user preferences ? Other thought is to Create a Restore Point, then Uninstall Inkscape, install new version - hopefully wont see any trace of old version, whin finished trialing, Restore old version

I guess throughout all this discussion, I haven't really understood why you wanted to have the units set to meters? Because you're not actually printing out "life size" floor plans, surely? (6 x 12 meters is bigger than my entire apartment....that would take one giant printer, lol! )

...b) only previous shapes drawn within the A4 cm space appeared in my Save as PDF...

Yes, only what is drawn inside the page border shows up when printed or uploaded. That's why the page border is there, to make it easy to see what's going to appear on the page.

...a) when trying to annotate my drawing, the text, even when set to max 144pt was a tiny speck as if still for A4 paper size, not a 15m rectangle,...

Omg, you really ARE making an image that large? Well regarding the text, if it's the proper dimension and proportion for the A4 size (0.30 x 0.21 m), of course you would have to scale it by the amount you're enlarging the rectangle, to have it still proportional.

A Measurement tool has been frequently requested, and for some reason, I'm thinking it's near to being finished.....oh wait, no. There's an extension: Extensions menu > Visualize Path > Measure Path, added a few version upgrades ago. I don't think it actually creates the label, but it does to the measurement. A label like you're asking for would probably be more typical of a drafting or CAD program, or the like. Oh whoops, I lied! It does make a label. But not lines and arrows, and it doesn't look like you can choose a font or style. But of course with the Text tool, making your own label should not be too challenging.

I remember SmartDraw allowed you to subsequently Edit Text Objects, by altering the text and attributes - pt, colour etc. Does Inkscape not allow you to do that ?

Yes, absolutely. There's a Text and Font dialog, which until recently has been the preferred method for creating and editing text. But the Text tool control bar now works pretty well, and contains all the buttons needed. But if you should find something that doesn't seem to work, try the dialog. However, if you have converted your text to paths, it will not still be editable as text any longer, but instead, is editable as a path. So while you would not be able to change the font size by pts, you can still scale it. And as a path, you can still change color, stroke, stroke style, etc, through Fill and Stroke dialog.

Oh yeah, restore points. I know it's a preferences file, but I'm not sure where it is, or if it actually is called preferences. But once I find it, I can proceed, and use System Restore to get my settings back. Good idea

Admittedly I only skimmed over the long comments in this topic… (way too much loosely structured text for me to quickly figure out a) what are the issues at hand, and b) what is description, comment, question, feature request, bug report, … - yes, I'm lazy, in this regard ) - but this question caught my attention:

paul481 wrote:(…) Any advantage using px over cm ? (…)

Using 'px' (aka SVG user unit) as base unit might help to achieve/keep better numeric precision by avoiding unit conversions [1] until preparing a document for output to a device with known dimensions (be it Printer, PDF or PNG). [2]


[1] Internally, all paths and coordinates in the SVG source are stored unit-less (i.e. in SVG user units, or 'px'), and the values are converted by Inkscape for the GUI - depending on the document unit setting (and other unit selectors). This limitation (if it is considered one) is rooted in the current SVG specification and makes it hard to define real 'absolute' units in any drawing using the SVG file format (mainly an issue for technical drawings). The difficulties in Inkscape to better handle real units (as well as drawing scale) are known and a recurring discussion among Inkscape developers.

[2] It also prepares a SVG drawing to be scaled with the 'viewBox' attribute (for which Inkscape doesn't have a GUI option yet).

I assumed you realised a floorplan of a building would be bigger than a A4 sheet of paper. Many objects people may want to draw are bigger than a piece of printing paper, and so I assumed, with the Wikipedia description saying it had coordinate space and appropriate range of scale units, from millimetres to metres, that it was able to model all sizes of things.

Only after seeing there appeared no way to make a 6x12m rectangle 'print' on a A4 sized paper, did I realize there was no point in specifying User Units in 'metres' if you needed hardcopy of your drawing, and that the only way to achieve that was to make a 'scale drawing' in the traditional pencil & paper way, in my case 1m = 1cm (100:1). I think the old SmartDraw required that also. It is just the description of Inkscape with its wide range of units led me to think it was not bound by print paper dimensions if hardcopy required. But as I saw on logging in last night, another response suggested to scale my actual real size units to px.

Thanks for your tip to look in Extensions for a Dimension Tool, offer to look into the .7z installation defaults and all your other help re. F&S etc.

~suv wrote:Admittedly I only skimmed over the long comments in this topic… (way too much loosely structured text for me to quickly figure out a) what are the issues at hand, and b) what is description, comment, question, feature request, bug report, … - yes, I'm lazy, in this regard ) - but this question caught my attention:

paul481 wrote:(…) Any advantage using px over cm ? (…)

Using 'px' (aka SVG user unit) as base unit might help to achieve/keep better numeric precision by avoiding unit conversions [1] until preparing a document for output to a device with known dimensions (be it Printer, PDF or PNG). [2]


[1] Internally, all paths and coordinates in the SVG source are stored unit-less (i.e. in SVG user units, or 'px'), and the values are converted by Inkscape for the GUI - depending on the document unit setting (and other unit selectors). This limitation (if it is considered one) is rooted in the current SVG specification and makes it hard to define real 'absolute' units in any drawing using the SVG file format (mainly an issue for technical drawings). The difficulties in Inkscape to better handle real units (as well as drawing scale) are known and a recurring discussion among Inkscape developers.

[2] It also prepares a SVG drawing to be scaled with the 'viewBox' attribute (for which Inkscape doesn't have a GUI option yet).

Thanks for explaining advantage of 'px' being more accurate than the other Units. That might explain why after roughly sketching a shape on the canvas then typing in more precise coordinates into the Control, the Control then showed small rounding errors. Sorry for the loose text structure... as only ' brynn' had replied initially, I wrote in response to previous dialog. Also, it is many years since I used a Graphics Vector Editor ! Re. your comment on Inkscape developers difficulties to better handle real units & drawing scale, think that was what threw me on understanding relation between viewport on screen and view on printer paper - see my other reply for 'brynn' just now. Interesting to know this issue being discussed. Maybe an additional 'Viewbox' type GUI will allow a decoupling of the printer paper size from the size onscreen. Many thanks.