full circle magazine #65

20

Mark has been using Linux since

1994, and uses Inkscape to create

two webcomics, 'The Greys' and

'Monsters, Inked' which can both be

found at:

http://www.peppertop.com/

HOWTO - INKSCAPE Pt5

demonstrating “none,” “reflected”

and “direct” modes using the

gradients shown in the top pair:

Now we'll return to that Edit…

button. If you click it, you'll bring

up a gradient editor window. This

is an alternative interface for

editing gradients: you can add and

remove stops, change their

position within the gradient, and

alter their colors – exactly the

same features that are available by

editing using the Gradient tool on

the canvas except that the editor

won't help you to change the

position and angle of your

gradients within your objects. The

gradient editor dialog has been

officially deprecated though, and

will likely be removed in a future

release in favor of some additions

to the on-canvas editing, so I won't

go into any more detail about it.

Throughout this article I've

talked about editing the fill. But

you can also apply a gradient to

your object's stroke. Here we have

two thick-stroked rectangles, one

with a linear gradient for the

stroke, and the other with a radial

gradient:

Being able to use a gradient for

the stroke can be a useful

workaround for one of SVG's (and

therefore Inkscape's) limitations:

strokes are always a fixed width.

This restriction makes it difficult to

draw lines that taper out, but using

a stroke that fades to transparent

can often give a similar visual

effect, especially with thin lines:

There is one feature that crops

up when using both fill and stroke

gradients which can sometimes

feel more like a bug: Inkscape likes

to 'help' by snapping the handles

of gradients together so that you

can manipulate them as one. In this

example, I've drawn a square with

a yellow fill and blue stroke, then

clicked the linear gradient buttons

in the Fill and Stroke dialog. It

looks like there's

only one pair of

gradient handles,

but that's because

one set is on top of

the other.

If you wish to modify just the fill

or the stroke gradient , the o bvious

thing to do would be to grab the

visible handles and move them out

of the way to reveal the second

pair below, right? If you try that,

you'll find that Inkscape's

propensity for

snapping gradient

handles together

means that both

sets of handles

move as one.

The solution to this conundrum

is simply to hold the SHIFT button

as you drag the handles around.

This will let you

separate them, and

prevent them

snapping back

together if they get

too close to one

another.

Now that you can create

gradients, perhaps it's time to

replace the simple blurred shading

on your snowman with some radial

gradients, to give him a little more

depth. Don't forget linear

gradients for his nose, arms, hat

and pipe.

As a

finishing

touch, a

nicely

shaded sky

is usually

more

interesting

than a flat

plane.