• Introduction
• Introduction
• Why use Inkscape?
• Professional software
• About this book
• Interface
• Managing the workspace
• Draw geometric shapes
• Drawing geometric shapes
• Select tool
• Shape tools
• Rectangle / square tool
• Ellipse / circle tool
• Star / polygon tool
• Spiral tool
• 3D Box tool
• Draw with free hand tool
• Drawing with freehand tools
• Pen tool
• Bézier / pen tool
• Pencil / freehand tool
• Boolean
• Nodes
• Editing paths
• Align and distribute
• Node tool
• Vectorize an image
• Sculpting paths
• Color
• Color
• Palette
• Fill & Stroke dialog
• Custom colors
• Copy color
• Gradients
• Use a pattern fill
• Edit a pattern fill
• Create a custom pattern fill
• Strokes
• Markers
• Customize markers
• Text
• Text
• Writing text
• Edit text style
• Edit text color
• Adjust character positions
• Text along a path
• Flowed text (text in a frame)
• Create your own font
• Advanced techniques
• Advanced techniques
• Saving your work
• Export to PDF
• Export to raster (PNG format)
• Import pictures in a document
• Copy/duplicate objects
• Clone objects
• Customize keyboard shortcuts
• Cut or apply a mask
• Filters
• Extensions

Why use Inkscape?

There are many image creation and manipulation software programs available. However there are two main types of images:

• Raster or bitmap images: for example, images from digital cameras. They're made up of pixels, and the quality is reduced the more we manipulate them. Zooming or shrinking can cause blurriness or pixelation.
• Vector images: these are created with vector graphics software. They're made up of mathematical paths, and are resolution independent – the image adapts to the available space without losing quality. This is why we can use the same vector image for very different sized supports.

Depending on the use you will make of your image, either raster or vector graphics may suit better to your needs.